Chief manager and coach of the national hockey team, Akhtar Rasool Caudhary has said the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup was the test drive of for the new look Pakistan hockey team and no one is responsible for the loss as fresh blood was checked in the event.
“No one was under responsibility of team’s bottom rock sixth finish in the Azlan Shah Cup as new players were tested focusing on building of the team for important international commitments.
“It is not fair to fix the responsibility of teams dismal performance on team management or players as five new players were part in the team which could not produce desired results owing to their lack of experience and exposure,” said Akhtar on his return from Malaysia.
He said the team management prior to team’s participation in the event made it clear that they are going to utilize Azlan Shah as a preparatory venture to try out new players keeping an eye on future assignments of the team.
“It is a very important hockey year as we will be undertaking the trip of Europe besides playing in Asia Cup and we are focusing on our preparations for next year’s World Cup,” he said.
He further said that Azlan Shah Cup was the ideal chance to test new players to gauge their talent ahead of this Summer tour of Europe.
Akhtar Rasool said the team was not in its full strength and composition as veteran half line player Wasim Ahmed was rested and reliable forward Shakeel Abbasi was injured.
“It is was a very tough competition in the presence of world’s best sides and our team failed to click due to new players,” he asserted.
The team official said he was not disappointed with the future of the team as a bad result in a tournament does not mean end of hockey .
“It (defeat) often happens and it is part of the game ,it is a sour reality that we could not get a good result but at the same time we should realize that we have given ample chance to new players and if they were not given a chance at which stage or in which tournament they were tested,” he added.
Akhtar Rasool said as a team chief coach and manager and then having the job of chief selector, he is under heavy load of responsibility and he always likes to take challenges in a decent way.
“I have not given up the hope , this team is a combination of talent and potential and with passage of time it will blend into a winning combination and what is most important at this stage is to contribute efforts with devotion and hard work to eradicate flaws and weaknesses,” he said.
He said that the team lost twice to India in the tournament because young players could not sustain the pressure of their earlier defeat.
“We will work on improving our team’s performance and I will be keeping faith in young players who are the future of Pak hockey,” he added.
Akhter is an idiot who takes everyone as on of his kind.This man after a thrashing in another international meet stated that "we are actually aiming for the world cup" and now this very silly argument.He should be kicked out along with his gang of idiots.
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