National hockey camp begins in Lahore

LAHORE: National hockey training camp to prepare the team for Asian Champions Trophy, commenced here on Tuesday at Johar hockey stadium, with 27 players out of 40 attending.

Eight players are taking part in different hockey tournaments at home while five are playing league in Malaysia and all of them are likely to join the camp in few days, camp commandant former hockey Olympian said while talking to APP after opening day training session.

The fourth edition of Asian Champions Trophy will be played from October 20 30 in Malaysia.

He said the players underwent fitness test to judge their individual fitness level.

“We will be maintaining the fitness record of each player in order to know their overall improvement in fitness at the conclusion of the camp”, he said.

The camp commandant said the prime objective of the camp is to improve the technique of the players besides working on their gray areas.

Junaid said special lectures will be delivered on bringing improvement in the performance of players and audio visual methods will also be used to impart latest points of the modern day coaching.

He described the Asian Champions Trophy a tough hockey event as Asia’s best teams including India South Korea Malaysia and Japan will be taking part in it.

“We are in process of rebuilding our national side for future challenges and the Asian Champions Trophy will serve as an ideal opportunity to ascertain the overall progress of the team”, he said adding “One of our target is to enhance the fitness level of players and we have prepared a special activity plan to achieve this objective”.

The camp commandant said the rebuilding of a team is not a overnight process as it takes good amount of time and the senior team management is target the future assignments of the team including qualifying for 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

“PHF is trying to gel youth with experience in the team and those players who will not be able to show necessary promise and application will be shown the exit and young blood will be infused”, said the former Pakistan captain.

He said during the camp, three to four daily training sessions will be held to implement a result oriented training programme, which includes fitness match practice gym and other modern methods of training.

“We will be mentoring the performance of players on daily basis to discuss their performance on weekly basis to know their improvement which will help us in finalizing the squad before watching them in final trails”, he said.

Praising the efforts of PHF for reviving the fortune of the team, he said best possible facilities are being provided by the PHF for the comfort of the players during the camp training.

“PHF is taking every measure to revamp the game and to put it on the right track and to prepare a side which is capable of regaining the lost glory”, he added.