Matches against India, Australia crucial: Nasir

KARACHI: Pakistan’s assistant coach Nasir Ali has said that the team is in full swing and good spirit due to which he expects it to qualify for the Rio Olympics.
Nasir, who is one of the three coaches who will not be visiting Belgium with the team, told ‘The News’ that they had worked hard to prepare the players till the last days of the training camp for the qualifiers. “I will always be proud that I worked for the betterment of the national team during the most difficult of times when our team had been unable to qualify for the World Cup,” he said.
“When we started working under the guidance of Shahnaz Sheikh, Pakistan team managed to recover in just six months and won two silver medals, in Asian Games and Champions Trophy,” said Nasir, a former Olympian.
The PHF surprisingly decided not to send Nasir, Sameer Hussain and Shafqat for the Belgium tour.
The trio was the main part of the chief coach Shahnaz Sheikh’s strategy for rebuilding the national team.
Nasir avoided talking on his and two associates’ exclusion and said the important thing was Pakistan’s qualification for Rio Olympics. “I worked with the national team for more than one and a half years and can confidently say Pakistan will qualify for Rio Olympics,” he said.
He said the national team was a strong blend of youth and experience after the inclusion of Fareed Ahmed, Rizwan and Rashid Mehmood.
He said Pakistan’s encounter with India in the qualifying round would be one of the most interesting matches of the year in the light of what happened in India at the last Champions Trophy.
He said Australia-Pakistan match would also be an interesting encounter. “Australia are better than us but this time it will be a close match because we learnt a lot during the Australia and Korea tours. Besides, we have included three seasoned players in the team,” he said.