KARACHI As feared, the delay in acquiring visas for the Europe-bound national hockey team has compelled the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) to reschedule the tour of Europe while dropping Belgium from their programme.
The team, which was supposed to leave on Sept 24 will now be leaving on Oct 19. 'The new schedule allows us enough time to fit in three or four warm-up matches with Poland and France before the beginning of the World Cup qualifiers,' said Chief Coach Shahid Ali Khan while speaking to Dawn on Tuesday.
The team is to play a two-match series against Poland on Oct 20 and 21 after which they'll be holding a short training camp in France from Oct 22 during which they also expect to play a couple of matches with the hosts.
About the delay causing hindrance in their preparations for the qualifiers, Shahid said 'I don't think it will affect us that much as we are getting a chance to play the required warm-up matches before the qualifiers anyway.'
While elaborating on their preparations, the former Olympian said that they are doing everything they think will give them an edge including scientific training.
'PHF's Dutch consultant Wouter Tazelaar who was in Europe to witness the recently-concluded European Cup there has filmed many of the matches played in the tournament. The tapes will help us watch and analyse our opponents,' said Shahid.
'I would also like to point out here that the European Cup was won by England, the team we beat 2-0 in the three-Test series in July. So the team that beat best teams such as Holland and Germany to lift the European Cup is the one Pakistan recently won a series against. It says a lot about our form,' he said.
The World Cup qualifiers in Lille, France are scheduled to take place from Oct 31 to Nov 8. Pakistan will be playing their first match against Italy (Oct 31), second against Russia (Nov 1), third against France (Nov 3), fourth against Japan (Nov 5) and fifth against Poland (Nov 7) while the final match will be played on Nov 8 with the winner qualifying for the World Cup to be played in India next year.
Meanwhile, the coach announced that they would be holding fresh trials after the conclusion of camp in mid-October. 'Wasim Ahmed, Rehan Butt, Abbas Haider and goalkeeper Salman Akbar, our boys playing in the foreign leagues, too, would have returned by then and will also be appearing in the trails,' he added.
