ABBOTTABAD: A 15-day training camp of the national team in preparation for the World Hockey League (WHL) commenced here on Thursday.

The league is scheduled to held in Malaysia from June 29. Pakistan are placed in Pool ‘B’ along with South Africa, England and Malaysia.

Twenty-four players have so far reported for the camp while three more will join on June 2, according to head coach Akhtar Rasool who spoke to to media here.

Rashid Mahmood and Mohammad Rizwan Sr will attend the camp after returning from league matches while Waseem Ahmed has not been able to join due to his mother’s illness.

The Pakistan team is staying at the Army School of Physical Training, Kakul where the boys would be able to take maximum advantage of exercise and training facilities to help improve their fitness levels.

Akhtar, who is being assisted by Tahir Zaman and other technical staff, said that the forthcoming WHL is very important for Pakistan and the national team should at least secure position among top three in the seven-nation competition to qualify for the World Cup.

Talking about his plans regarding the ongoing camp, Akhtar further said that each player would be assessed for his speed, stamina and physical fitness and then a comprehensive training programme would be designed to work on each player’s weakness.

The second phase of the camp will be held in Karachi before the team’s departure. Akhtar was all praise for weather conditions in Abbottabad, saying that maximum time is being spent on training which will yield good results.

Shedding light on specific areas to be covered in the ongoing camp, Akhtar said: “We are concentrating on blocking the ‘power hit’ of the Europeans and the Malaysians besides making our defence more strong.”

The head coach further admitted that in order to become a top-level team, Pakistan needed to have at least four or five top performers in the side who could pose a real threat to rival teams.

He pointed out that young and talented sportsmen were not being given opportunities to join schools and colleges on sports quota due to which all sports in the country were suffering.

“We need good players to come up on merit but it is not happening. I will soon put forward suggestions in this regard to Mian Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif,” he said.

To a question that why the camp was being conducted on green turf when blue turf had become the standard in international hockey, the head coach said that the upcoming event would be played on green turf which would be more advantageous for the national team.

“The next ten days are more important as different drill combinations are going to be employed to help boys gain perfection in quick passing and ball possession,” claimed Akhtar.

Talking about goalkeepers’ training, the head coach said that though Ahmed Alam was requested to help goalkeepers in the ongoing camp, he couldn’t turn up due to other commitments.

He, however, said that goalkeeping coach Arshad is available to train goalkeepers in the camp.

Our Sports Reporter from Lahore adds: Akhtar said hectic efforts would be made in the camp to improve the penalty-corner conversion and for bringing in more accuracy of the attackers in the ‘D’ area.

Talking to Dawn from Abbottabad, Akhtar said as the boys had assembled again after an almost two-and-a-half month lapse, his main focus would be to make improvement in skills and fitness of the boys.

“The penalty-corner conversion rate must improve further and our strikers have to show more perfection in completing the move in the ‘D’ area during attacks on the rival teams,” Akhtar said.

“Hockey is now played at a very fast pace and you have very little time to pull off perfect finishing in the ‘D’ area to score a goal.”

He said a work plan had been prepared by newly inducted nutrition expert Adnan Zakir for players’ diet and fitness. “I am satisfied with Adnan as he is showing lot of passion in improving the fitness level of the players,” he said.

Meanwhile, Akhtar again invited all the former hockey stalwarts like Islahuddin Siddiqui, Shahnaz Sheikh, Samiullah, Manzoor Junior and others to step forward and help him with their valuable suggestions in raising a strong team for the WHL, which will also serve as qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup.

“This is the time that we should work together by setting aside petty disputes and I would like to again invite all my colleagues who have earned good name for the country to come forward and join hands for the betterment of the national hockey,” Akhtar said.