Coach of Pakistan hockey team Khawaja Mohammad Junaid has termed the tour of Europe of “ greater significance “serving as effective medium to make amends in the overall showing of the team ahead of the Olympics. “It is a very high profile tour as we will be playing world’s best teams in next ten days and it is an ideal opportunity to overcome gray areas and to use this tour to gear up for Olympics “,he was quoted by Associated Press of Pakistan. The green shirts will open their brief but important tour with a test match against Belgium on June 11, then two matches against Germany on June 13-14 and the last match on June 15 against Holland. Pak team management is under a lot of pressure to lift the sagging fortune of the teams after its shocking number seven and last finish in recently concluded Azlan Shah Cup in Malaysia. “We are going to Europe with a new hope, setting aside what happened in (Ipoh, Malaysia) but it does not mean that we have totally forgotten what happened there , of course, the defeat has put us under extra pressure to use the European tour as a way to bring improvement in the team “, said the former captain and the Olympian. Junaid said Germany and Holland are the most respected and top teams of world hockey and playing against them would definitely add to the confidence of the team and to weed out weaknesses noticed during Azlan Shah Cup. “ Things are not in our favour at the moment as the team produced a poor show but we are determined to end this situation by learning from the tour of Europe to create better understanding among the senior and junior players “,he maintained.
