Pakistan Satisfied with Preparations of Rio Olympics Hockey Qualifiers

Captain of Pakistan hockey team Muhammad Imran is satisfy with preparations of team for the semi-finals of Hockey World League starting from June 20 in Antwerp which will also work as Rio Olympics qualifiers. The national team has already made two preparatory trips where they participated in the Four-Nation Hobart International Challenge in Australia finishing second and played four matches in Korea losing one and drawing two. Imran thinks that they have spotted their weak points during the tours which they will try to remove in the training camp starting from the first week of June.

Imran said they have learned from both the tours. He added they have found faults and weak areas on which they will work to overcome during the final part of the training camp. The Pakistan Hockey Federation wants to train the players a week before departure of the team to Belgium which means 12 days before the starting of the event so that the players can adjust to the playing conditions of the venue.

In the meantime head coach Shahnaz Sheikh has urged players to improve their fitness level after analyzing performance of team on the tours as he thinks this will play a key role to achieve their objective. Sheikh added the players, who were participating in game since March without a break, have been asked to rest for a week while the remaining have been stressed to work hard for their fitness. Sheikh said the players should be at their maximum for the qualifiers.