LAHORE, July 22: Except for Haseem Khan all other 24 probables attended the first day of the national training camp that commenced here at the National Hockey Stadium on Monday.
The camp is being held as part of the preparations for next month’s Asia Cup, to be staged in Malaysia, which Pakistan must win in order to qualify for the 2014 World Cup.
Under head coach Akhtar Rasool Pakistan lost the first opportunity of qualifying for the 2014 World Cup after finishing a pathetic seventh in the eight-nation World Hockey League (WHL) early this month in Malaysia.
On Monday, camp commandant Akhtar Rasool told reporters that Haseem had informed him about his absence from the training camp. The coach however hoped Haseem would join the camp on Tuesday.
Undoubtedly, Akhtar acknowledged, the Asia Cup was a challenge for him and he would leave no stone unturned in preparing his charges for the all-important competition.
“Although the contest at the Asia Cup will be tough in the presence of opponent teams like India and South Korea besides hosts Malaysia, I hope my boys will not repeat the mistakes they committed in the WHL quarter-final against South Korea,” the head coach remarked. “And I feel my team is quite capable to win the Asia Cup as they are highly motivated to meet the challenge.”
Akhtar insisted discipline was his top priority and since assuming the charge he had not spared any player in case of any code of conduct violation.
Meanwhile, national team captain Mohammad Imran also sounded confident and hoped that his team would make the World Cup by winning the Asia Cup.
“Though the results in the WHL were disappointing, still I feel my boys fought well in three pool matches. But one bad game [the quarter-final] against a team which had lost all their pool matches caused Pakistan’s downfall in the League,” the skipper lamented.
Commenting on the Asia Cup, Imran said during the current camp the players would work hard to remove the errors they committed in the WHL, noting the green shirts now had no room to relax as they would be making the final bid to qualify for the 2014 World Cup in Malaysia next month.
