Pakistan: Team management to gamble by trying young players 
 |
| Pakistan |
October 21, 2003
Daily Times of Pakistan
> Page Views 1239
LAHORE: The coaches of the Pakistan hockey team said they are ready to play a gamble in the Afro-Asian Games by blending young players with the senior members. “Trying out young players is a gamble and we are ready for it.These players would be fully exposed during the tournament,” said coach Tahir Zaman and assistant coach Tahir Bajwa on Tuesday, before the departure of the team for Hyderabad, India en route to Dubai. Afro-Asian Games will be played from October 23.
The Pakistan Hockey Federation has rested four senior members including custodian, Ahmad Alam, penalty corner shooter, Sohail Abbas, striker Shabbir Ahmad and centre forward Kashif Jawad after the team failed in the final of Asia Cup losing to India.
Their places have been filled with the players of the junior hockey team and the home coaches have attached a lot of hopes with Salman Akbar, Tariq Aziz, Akhtar Ali, Shakeel Abbasi and Zeeshan Ashraf.
“In the given circumstances we have fewer choices and our main concern is to see if these players could sustain high profile pressure in the matches. If they do, it can boost the overall performance and help in achieving the desired results,”they said.
Tahir Zaman said there would be ample opportunity to test the young players while taking advantage of the rolling substitution during the matches. He stressed that the junior players cannot be groomed without putting them in competitive hockey.
“We know we will go into the tournament with added pressure, because we will be without our main key players. There is no alternative other than trying-out junior players”, he said.
The former Pakistan captain and Olympian denied anything was at stake when the team would play in the Afro-Asian Games as the prime focus is to find out players for forming a side for playing in the qualifying rounds of the Olympic in March next, in Spain.
“It would be a tough tournament amid top teams from Asia and Africa but our main consideration is to finalise our squad for the Olympic”, he reiterated. Bajwa, while justifying the inclusion of junior players said they struck encouraging performance during the tour of Europe this summer when the played 23 matches in different countries but lost only two, one each to Germany and India.
“They have made their way to the senior team purely on the basis of their performance in the junior team and they have all the potential to perform up to the mark”,he said. Bajwa said the team management will adjust these
players on specialised positions to add necessary fire and sting in the team which faces arch rivals,India,Asian Games champions South Korea and African Champions South Africa in the event.
To a question, the team officials said they would make optimum efforts to fully benefit from the presence of Roelant Oltmans, the Dutch coach hired by PHF on a year-long contract. Oltamns will officially be joining the team in December, adding,he will go to India not as coach but as an observer.
“He is an experienced coach and we will be looking forward to his technical expertise”, they added.
Your opinion counts.
Rate this article or enter your comments below.
|
