‘Pakistan won’t show all their cards against India today’

ISLAMABAD: High Performance Coach Tahir Zaman said Pakistan will target a tactical game against India today (Saturday), admitting that the last initial stage match in the Asian Hockey Champions Trophy would not be an all-out effort rather it would be an attempt to judge strength of the opponents.

Pakistan are to play India in the last round robin game today. The win will have no bearing on the semis line-up as it is almost certain that Pakistan will not be playing the archrivals in the pre-final on Monday.

“The last round robin league match against India would only be a formality as Pakistan has already confirmed second or third position on the table at the end of the initial stage. We would prefer playing a tactical game rather making an all-out effort to win against India.”

In an exclusive interview with ‘The News’ from China, Tahir hoped to take on India again in the final of the Champions Trophy and for that reason he did not want to show all his cards to the opponents at this stage.

“If all goes well and according to the plan, we would be meeting India again in the final of the Champions Trophy. The boys have shown immense strength and coordination during the last two matches that we won. The team has shown signs of improvement and hopefully things will be much better in the semis where Korea could be our opponents.”

He praised India as the best outfit in Asia.

“There are no two opinions that when it comes to ranking and standard, India are the best team in Asia. They are the bronze medal-winners at the Paris Olympics and ranked far higher than any other Asian team on the FIH Ranking list. Yet I am confident that we would be in a position to give them a good fight provided we play to our potential.”

Tahir Zaman, who joined the national team in China only a day ahead of start of the Asian Champions Trophy, said that there was a lot of work to do in Pakistan hockey.

“Pakistan hockey requires a huge investment to get back on the track. All those teams playing FIH Pro League get consistent exposure against the best teams around the world while Pakistan hardly play international hockey barring events which does not come very often. So the best way forward is to play more international hockey matches against better and highly ranked teams. Talent is there but until and unless you play against the better teams regularly you could not become one of the better sides. These Pakistan players are good but they need regular training and better exposure to play against the best teams. Besides playing against the best teams, competing regularly at national level and organising round the year camps would help teams improve in ranking and standard.”

The coach hoped to get a better idea about Pakistan team’s weaknesses and India’s strengths after playing the pool match on Saturday.

India defeated Pakistan 10-2 in the Asian Games last year when Saeed Khan was coach of the team and Haider Hussain was the secretary Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF).

That defeat was the worst ever inflicted by India on Pakistan after which the hapless Saeed Khan tendered his resignation.