Pakistan target NZ for place in Commonwealth hockey semis

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan target New Zealand for a place in the Birmingham Commonwealth Games’ hockey semi-finals with head coach Siegfried Aikman promising to make all-out effort to earn a place in the knockout stage.

Talking to ‘The News’ at the Islamabad airport Sunday, the head coach said that he always reposed trust in his players.

“I know that Australia would be a tough side to beat yet I believe that my charges would make every possible effort to earn a point from the Kookaburras. Our main target is New Zealand in the Group and if we succeed in beating the Black Sticks we would have relatively good chances of making it to the semi-finals. Other teams like South Africa are also tough. Reaching the knockout stages would be our first target. New Zealand is no ordinary team. Though the Black Sticks has not played much international hockey in recent times, their recent outing against some international outfits was impressive,” Aikman said.

The head coach, however, rued getting limited time to train for the important event.

“Due to visa issues, I joined the camp just 12 days back. So I had limited time at my disposal to train the team members for the important event. I am hopeful that the time we would be spending in Birmingham ahead of the Games would help us make up for the lost time. We have got two warm-up matches against Wales and Ghana. Hopefully ahead of our first match against South Africa players would be in a much better shape.” He reiterated that his efforts would bring out the best in the team members.

“The results are largely dependent on luck that earlier had eluded us in all important match against Japan in the Asia Cup. We could have won that match by 5-1 but did not manage to pull out a winner. Here again, I feel that if luck stays our way we would manage a place in the semis.”

He praised the selected team, saying that every player knows what the requirements are. “These are a talented bunch of hockey players knowing well what are the requirements of international hockey. Though the game poses a tough challenge, Pakistan is capable of springing a surprise as the team has got some of the quality players to count on.”