Pakistan junior hockey team leaves for World Cup

Pakistan junior hockey team head coach, Tahir Zman said the team has one objective to win the Junior World Cup in Dutch city of Rotterdam. "Only one thought has been infused in the mind of the whole team members to go for a win by progressing step by step in the tournament", he said here on Monday before the departure of the team for Belgium via Dubai to play practice matches ahead of the Cup which will be played from June 29.
The former Olympian said players have been told to improve their finishing inside the circle and the penalty corner drills.
This team has the potential to attain glory and we are fully optimistic to motivate it to a level for winning the event", he said.
The former captain said returning to form by captain Shakeel Abbasi and half line player Muhammad Imran is a good omen for the team which will be getting much needed high profile warm up practice by playing South Africa and Argentina in Belgium.
We are not playing any practice game against Belgium because they are in our pool he said.
The team official said defeat from hosts Malaysia in Arslan Shah Cup came under microscopic view as nine members of the junior team were playing in it. "We observed that poor finish inside the circle and conversion of penalty corners are the major gray areas and we worked really hard to address these shortcomings and we are confident that team players will be improving in all departments of the game he said.
Tahir added, the thorough analysis of the match against Malaysia showed Pakistan team in dominance throughout the match and it was missing by the forwards which cost us dearly thereby ruining ourr chances for moving into the final.
What we require from the players is maximum professionalism and availing of chances and we cannot afford wasting any sitters and then dreaming of producing favourable results," he maintained.
He said Pakistan junior team has been built after four years long continuous efforts of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) which arranged the best possible training for its grooming.
The teams head coach while answering a question said it is a wrong impression that the Pakistan is placed in a weak pool no team is weaker in the tournament and considering any opponent under strength will be a silly mistake.
"We have prepared the team to deliver in a short duration camp in the scorching heat and witnessed improvement in the overall performance and now all depends on the p1ayers how they perform in the tournament," he concluded.