Preparations for Olympic qualification in full flow

Greenshirts clash with Poland on June 20 in first Hockey World League semi-finals clash

KARACHI: As the Hockey World League semi-finals — the Olympic Qualification Round — draw closer, Pakistan’s preparation and training have gathered momentum, with the Greenshirts’ first encounter set to be against Poland on June 20 in Belgium.

The past four days have seen the players enter the final phase of their training camp. “We are in the final phase of preparation for the World League semi-finals,” said coach Shahnaz Sheikh. “We are focusing on fine-tuning our penalty corners, long corners and set pieces. The team is focusing on speed. This will help them move along the field together and hence improve passing accuracy.”

He added that the team is strong on the counter and the attack in the D has improved. “The players are now focusing on making it all come together and if they deliver then they are on track,” added the coach.

Meanwhile, skipper Muhammad Imran said that the players at the camp are training hard. “The team looks confident as we are learning new skills that will help us perform better in the opponent’s D. We are positive of delivering the desired results,” he said.

The team begins their qualification campaign for Rio with their first group stage fixture against Poland on June 20, then Australia on June 24, India on June 26 and France on June 28 in Antwerp, Belgium.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 9^th,  2015.

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