Hockey: Greenshirts finish Abbottabad drills

Hockey team to depart for Birmingham camp on July 12.

KARACHI: Pakistan hockey chief coach and manager Akhtar Rasool has said that the team was imparted training on every aspect of the game as its 10-day camp ended in Abbottabad yesterday.

The Greenshirts culminated their London Olympics training at home and are now gearing up to leave for England on July 12 where they will start another 10-day drill in Birmingham — bringing down the curtain on their preparations for the mega event.

According to Rasool, fitness was the main focus during the Abbottabad training camp.

The panel of coaches also worked on improving penalty-corner conversion, defence and midfield besides finishing.

Video analysis done

Ample time was also given to a video analysis of Pakistan’s opponents in London.

“We did everything in the camp in order to improve the players’ game,” Rasool told The Express Tribune. “We did not leave out a single aspect as every position was worked.

“The positive thing is all the players are motivated and such an attitude is important.”

However, he added that the upcoming training camp in Birmingham will be more crucial. “The camp is being set-up in the conditions where we will play at the Olympics. It will also give us more practice on the new blue-turf.”

The team is expected to play warm-up matches against Holland and Germany after the Birmingham camp.

Meanwhile, commenting on veteran Salman Akbar’s exclusion from the squad, Pakistan Hockey Federation Secretary Asif Bajwa said the player has crossed his prime because of which the selectors opted for a younger replacement in Imran Shah.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 9^th, 2012.