Pakistan players during their group match at Asian Games 2018 in August, in this file photo.
DOHA: Pakistan players must improve their overall fitness levels ahead of this year’s Field Hockey World Cup to be played in December, retired great Khalid Hamid has said.
A hockey giant for over three decades, Pakistan finished a dismal fourth at the Asian Games in Indonesia in August.
In the third-place play-off Pakistan - eight-time gold medallists at the Asian Games - lost to arch-rivals India who bagged the bronze medal.
“Although Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) have hired a Dutch coach and a physical trainer from Australia but Pakistan team was lacking in physical fitness at the Asian Games,” Hamid, a member of Pakistan’s 1984 gold-winning squad at the ‘84 Olympic Games, said in an exclusive interview with The Peninsula.
“I observed that in the both crucial games - against Japan in the semi-finals and against India in the bronze medal clash - Pakistan disappointed because of poor physical fitness,” Hamid added.
“In both games, the team played better in the first and second quarters but struggled after that. The players have good potential. I believe there is still enough time to improve the fitness level ahead of the World Cup,” Hamid told The Peninsula.
Pakistan are in Group D with Germany, the Netherlands and Malaysia at the World Cup to be held played from November 28 to December 16 in India.
Khalid Hamid
Hamid said: “Pakistan hockey team has very remote chances to reach in the semi-finals (of the World Cup) but still there are two months to go before the start of the World Cup. I feel our players are very talented and in this short span of time only hard physical fitness training can help to improve their ranking in the World Cup.”
He added: “PHF fully supports the players to build a good team for which it has already spent a huge amount, hiring a Dutch coach and a physical trainer from Australia as well.”
Hamid, who also featured at the Seoul Olympics in 1988, said Pakistan had kicked off their Asian Games in punishing form but the loss against Japan in the semi-finals was unexpected.
“Japan achieved their biggest success in the Asian Games hockey by defeating Pakistan by a solitary goal,”Hamid said about the semi-final loss.
Hamid, who lives in Doha as the Country Manager of Pakistan International Airlines, said the Indo-Pakistan clash at the Asian Games had everything to entertain the hockey fans.
“The Indo-Pak encounter is always anticipated by the hockey lovers all over the world and the match at the Asian Games lived up to the high billing,” said the former Olympian.
Hamid said returning from the Asian Games without a medal meant Pakistan ‘has to play qualifying round to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics’.
“There was a time when we were the Asian, World and Olympic champions but now we have to play qualifying rounds just to qualify for the participation in these top events,”he said.
“A team cannot be prepared overnight, it takes time to have a winning combination for which a strong domestic set-up at the grass-root levels is required. If you don’t have the nursery, how you will get a reasonable pool of players? Their should be domestic tournaments all over the country. PHF can hunt for good talent by holding such kind of domestic events,” Hamid said
