Green-shirts training camp second phase from Wednesday

KARACHI: Pakistan hockey team will start the second phase of its training camp from Wednesday in Lahore, which will continue till the departure for Germany, where the Green-shirts play two friendly matches against Germany before Olympic qualifiers.

Pakistan’s head coach Khuwaja Junaid on Sunday said that around 35 players would be shortlisted for the second phase. “We will focus on hockey skills and team combinations during the training sessions. The focus during the first phase was on physical fitness,” he added.

Junaid said that Ammad Shakeel Butt, Samiullah, Ali Shan who were participating in leagues abroad would join the camp by September 29. Rashid and Rizwan will join a few days later, he added.

“The two matches against Germany are vital for us to shape up the team for the matches against Holland in the Olympic qualifiers,” Junaid said.

He said beating Holland would be tough. “Their penalty corner conversion ratio is one of the best in the world. Our strategy will be to block their PC execution. We will work on our defenders and goalkeepers in this respect,” he added.

The head coach said that individually Pakistani players had good hockey skills but as a team they failed to produce results. “During the second phase of the training camp we will also work on that,” he said.

Pakistan will play against Germany on October 21 and 23. They will then move to Netherlands to play 2020 Olympic qualifiers on October 26 and 27.

Meanwhile, it was learnt that PHF was considering forming a team comprising seniors and juniors to play against Oman who are coming to Pakistan on September 26 for a few matches. The final decision in this regard is yet to be taken.

Pakistan junior team’s training camp schedule is yet to be announced, as well as its team management.