Disappointed by Malaysia’s pullout: Aikman

KARACHI: Pakistan’s newly appointed head coach Siegfried Aikman said on Sunday that he was disappointed that Malaysia was not participating in the Asian Champions Trophy.

He said in a video that he wanted Pakistan to play against strong teams of Asia. The main purpose of high performance is to play against best teams, he said. He added that in the Asian Hockey Championship matches, he would check which areas needed to be improved.

After Malaysia pulled out of the championship due to ill health of its players, the Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) revised the schedule of the event. Now the championship will have five teams and each team will play against every other team. The teams are Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Japan, and South Korea.

Meanwhile, the senior hockey team goalkeepers Amjad Ali and Mazhar Abbas kept waiting for Bangladesh visas on Sunday.

Also waiting for visas were goalkeeping coach Olympian Ahmed Alam, physical trainer Abid Ameen and physiotherapist Aslam, 'The News' learnt on Sunday.

The goalkeepers of junior team Waqar and Abullah are with the senior team in Bangladesh.

Informed sources in PHF said that all the five waiting for visas were staying at the hostels of Abdul Sattar Edhi stadium in Karachi. PHF sources said it was expected that their visas would arrive on Monday (today).

Sources said that Amjad and Mazhar continued their training under the guidance of Ahmed.

The Asian Hockey championship is starting from Tuesday (tomorrow).

Pakistan will play their first match on Tuesday (tomorrow) against Japan, India on December 17, South Korea December 18, and Bangladesh December 19.