LAHORE: The third phase of the national training camp for the upcoming Asian Games begins in Islamabad from Aug 5 while the camp for the Youth Olympics starts in Lahore from Aug 4, secretary of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) Rana Mujahid said here on Thursday.

The Asian Games is going to be held in Incheon, South Korea from Sept 19 to Oct 3 while the Youth Olympics are being staged in Nanjing, China from Aug 16.

Mujahid said the players would report to head coach Shahnaz Sheikh in Islamabad on Aug 4 while the probables for the Youth Olympics would report to head coach Olympian Tahir Zaman on Aug 3.

He added that the PHF was also considering seriously the suggestion put forward by Shahnaz to arrange some international matches for the Pakistan team as part of their preparations for the Asiad.

“Hopefully, some international matches will be organised in order to boost Pakistan team preparations, who will be defending their title at the Asian Games,” Mujahid said.

Meanwhile, Shahnaz said it would be relatively more beneficial (for Pakistan) to play some matches against Malaysia and India prior to the Asian Games.

However, the head coach acknowledged that the Asian teams might be reluctant to face each other before the prestigious continental event.

“Some matches against European teams are also preferable, and if those countries are also not free then a few games against some strong European clubs can also provide us necessary practice,” Shahnaz said, noting that several European Clubs had maintained good standard of hockey that was even better than that held by some Asian teams.

“We, after the Asian Champions Trophy, have not played international hockey for the last 10 months and it is a big gap. Therefore, it is necessary to play some international matches so that we can assess strong and weak areas of the team after completion of the first two phases of national camp,” Shahnaz explained.

The Incheon Games is the first assignment of Shahnaz, who has joined hands with Akhtar Rasool-led PHF after remaining in opposition throughout the tenure of last PHF president Qasim Zia.

Published in Dawn, August 1st, 2014