Rock-solid Imran eyes international glory

KARACHI: Pakistan hockey team’s goalkeeper Imran Butt is satisfied with his performance in the recently-concluded national championship and confident that his experience of stopping hits in the penalty shootout will help him in international matches, writes Syed Intikhab Ali.
He stopped as many as 13 strikes out of 16 in penalty shootouts in three consecutive matches, playing a major role in PIA’s win.
“The experience of these matches has given me a lot of confidence,” he said while talking to ‘The News’.
Imran made these saves in the quarter-final, the semi-final and the final of the championship.
Pakistan are considered weak in the new format of penalty shootout introduced last year.
The Green-shirts’ goalkeepers did not play international matches due to one or the other reason for a long time and are consequently far behind the strong teams of the world. It was the first time in the national championship that this method was introduced and Imran Butt’s performance was unmatched throughout the tournament, due to which he was declared the best goalkeeper.
He stopped four strikes in the penalty shootout in the quarter-final against Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC), five out of seven against NBP in the semi-final, and four against WAPDA in the final.
Imran said his performance had improved due to the rigorous training with the national hockey team under the guidance of chief coach Shahnaz Sheikh and goalkeepers’ coach Abu Zar.
He was also guided by PIA’s manager and coach Shahid Ali Khan, who was a great goalkeeper of his time.
Imran said Shahid Ali Khan’s coaching played an important role in improving his confidence and skill adding that he was now looking forward to giving his best at the international level.
He said there was urgent need for international matches for the national team to be able to reach Olympics 2016. “We went to play Asian Games and Champions Trophy without playing any international match, while all other teams had played 35 to 40 matches in a year,” he added.
“If we did not play maximum number of international matches we cannot play well in the coming events. We cannot reach the final of a big tournament without playing international matches,” he stressed.
He said the federal government must release funds for national hockey so that arrangements of international matches for the Green-shirts could be made.
Shahid Ali Khan said Imran’s performance in the national championship was marvelous. “He created history of best goalkeeping in domestic hockey by stopping 13 hits in penalty shootouts in three big matches,” Shahid said.