‘Reassembling best outfit not easy task’

ISLAMABAD: Khawaja Junaid, the newly-appointed head coach of national hockey team, Monday supported inclusion of young blood in the future teams, saying that the Pakistan Hockey Federation’s think-tank is looking to make a fresh beginning.

Talking to ‘The News’ after officially taking over the charge on Monday, Junaid said it was decided to include almost 90 percent fresh faces in the probables list for camp training.

“We have decided to bank on the fresh blood rather taking along the old faces. Only ten to fifteen percent old faces will be there in the team that have got hockey left in them and are of some use for the squad. To rebuild the future of Pakistan hockey, we have to make a fresh beginning,” he said.

Junaid, who has already coached national side on a few occasions, was given national team’s coaching responsibility for the forthcoming Olympic Games qualifiers and later for the South Asian Games.

“The two events are very important from Pakistan prospective. At the moment we hardly know as where and when and against which team we are to play for a place in the Olympic qualifying round. Once that would be determined we will hold training camp keeping in mind that particular team. Still I believe that the best way forward is to train those who have talent and want to become future stars of international hockey.”

Once the PHF pays the first installment of the fine imposed by International Hockey Federation (FIH), the international body is expected to reveal details of Pakistan’s roadmap for Olympics.

“Our first priority is to pick the best around 35 players for the camp training. Our selection committee headed by Manzoor Junior is working on that. We are lucky to have such a great player as our chief selector. He has closely watched the National Championship that concluded on Monday and hopefully would be having the best knowledge and eye on those players who have shown talent and performance.”

The head coach added that the national camp was expected to be held in Lahore. “The camp is expected to be established in Lahore on or around August 25 where around 35 players will be invited for training to prepare for future international events. We are planning to keep these players for a longer period at the camp in an effort to improve their skills and make them more competitive and result-oriented.”

Junaid admitted that it would not be an easy task to reassemble Pakistan team.“For the last two years we have been struggling to even organise the camp in a professional manner what to talk about team combination and international exposure. So we have to make a fresh start and that is to gather the best talent and make a competitive unit out of that.”