Pakistan start final preparations for Europe

KARACHI: The Pakistan hockey team will start training again in Lahore today to give final touches to their preparations for the Europe tour after resting for a couple of days following the extensive drills in Karachi. The national players have assembled in Lahore for a two-day training camp before they head off for Spain to embark on their three-week long tour of Europe.

Team manager Manzoor Hussain Junior told The Express Tribune that the players were given a rest following  a strenuous training drill in Karachi.

“Players seemed strained due to hectic work in Karachi and we decided to give them a break. But we will follow the same plan during the camp in Lahore,” said the manager, who will supervise the camp along with assistant coach Ahmed Alam in the absence of coach Michel Van Den Heuvel.

After the training camp in Karachi, Heuvel flew back home before joining the Pakistan team. Meanwhile, the green shirts will leave for Barcelona on July 7 where they will play against the hosts before taking on France and the Netherlands.

Manzoor Junior, who led Pakistan to the Olympic gold medal in 1984, said that the Europe sojourn will prepare the national team for the Asian Games in November.

“The first target of the new management is the Asian Games and playing against the Europeans will give us solid preparations for the event,” said Junior while adding that the team is perfectly balanced with a mixture of youth and experience. The Olympian added that the senior players had satisfied the management in the training camp and remain the main hope for Pakistan.

Published in the Express Tribune, July 5^th, 2010.