India wary of desperate Pakistan in HWL play-off
REMATCH Roelant Oltmans’ men, who beat Pak earlier in the tournament, will take them on again in fifth/sixth classification match We (Paskistan) are a young team and lack experience of big matches. But we are like soldiers in a battlefield. We will rise for sure. Not really. Cricket’s success (CT) is an eyeopener and will give hockey new life. Pakistan hockey needs victories.
The pity is that there is no money in Pakistan hockey. There are no jobs. If we can introduce a league, pump in funds, Pakistan hockey will be back. It’s very true that hockey is dying. But I am not giving up. Our under18 team won gold in the Australian national championship.
and England have already qualified for the World Cup by virtue of entering the semifinals.
On Saturday, Rio Olympics champions take on Malaysia while hosts England play a marauding Dutch team.
This has been a season of India versus Pakistan in the UK. The cricket teams battled twice in the ICC Champions Trophy and it will be a repeat on the hockey turf. Oltmans is only hoping that the Round 2 results in hockey will be different to cricket.
India had whipped Pakistan in a group match of the ICC Champions Trophy in Birmingham on June 4 and two weeks later at The Oval, surrendered meekly to gift Pakistan their maiden Champions Trophy.
Oltmans seemed to be aware of what happened on the cricket field and with Pakistan showing signs of improvement in the HWL semi-final, the Indians are not even thinking of their 7-1 win in a group match last Sunday.
“Certainly it won’t be 7-1. They got their chances against us in the first match and they scored against Argentina. So we have to respect Pakistan for their abilities,” said Ramandeep Singh, who scored India’s two goals against Malaysia
Pakistan are desperate to finish among the top six. They lifted their game against Rio Olympic champions Argentina on Thursday As players we share good feelings. I am sure administrators can do the same. When I played my last World Cup in 2002, I could smell that the current administrators cannot produce good results. A player-turned-administrator has a big advantage. I have played 20 years of international hockey and several years in European league. I have seen what it takes to become a strong nation.
The biggest problem is that the young players who are coming into Pakistan hockey lack education. Astro-turf hockey is a science and we are not up to it. I don’t think so. That’s not a solution. The average age of the current side is 25-plus. A foreign coach will be unable to turn them around. My vision is to build a developmental squad of 40-50 boys with strong basics and then hire a high-performance manager. Not really. Cricket’s success (in Champions Trophy) is an eyeopener and that will give hockey new life. Pakistan hockey needs victories and only then it will rise and shine again. Nobody wants to play hockey now but we have a history of resurgence in sports and I will try my best to ensure hockey is not dead in Pakistan.