Junior hockey team win practice match series

KARACHI: Pakistan Junior hockey team defeated Army by 1-0 in the second practice match at Army Hockey Stadium in Rawalpindi on Saturday.
The first match, which was played on Friday ended in a 2-2 draw.
Chief coach Tahir Zaman told ‘The News’ that his team is showing signs of improvement but they still need to work on their goal-scoring.
“The players need to grab goal-scoring opportunities. The lack of goals from the forwards is a matter of concern for us,” said Tahir.
“The forward-line was successful in creating some chances but failed to convert which is disappointing,” he added.
Tahir said that the Army has a strong team and are a force in domestic hockey — also the semi-finalists of the National Hockey Championship.
“Physically they are also a strong unit. These matches against Army gave us a good learning experience.”
He said that youngsters feature in these matches alongside their regular training schedule but are not tired, which is a good sign.
“When they will feature in regular tournaments, their training will be suspended so they would feel fresh then,” said Tahir.
He expressed satisfaction over the PC conversions of Abu Bakar and Mubashir, who scored twice and once respectively in the practice matches.
The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) president Brig(retd) Khalid Sajjad Khokhar, secretary Shahbaz Ahmed and chairman selection committee Rasheed Junior also attended the practice matches.
The Junior hockey team will depart for Malaysia on October 7, where they will participate in the 5th Sultan of Johor Cup to be played in Johor Bahru, Malaysia from 11th to 18th October.
They will start their campaign against arch-rivals India on October 11.