KARACHI, 23 May 2005 — Pakistan’s national field hockey team hope to reclaim past glories at the Azlan Shah in Malaysia, coach Tahir Zaman said yesterday as his squad jetted out for the tournament.
“This could rightly be termed as the first step on course to regaining the lost glory in hockey because next year we have the World Cup in Germany and then the Beijing Olympics in 2008,” coach Zaman told AFP.
But Pakistan will be forced to look to other players for inspiration without the retired world record goal-scorer Sohail Abbas to call upon.
The country’s hockey authorities had tried to lure Abbas back from international retirement but Abbas, who scored a world record 274 goals before calling it a day in December last year, is currently playing league hockey in Europe.
“Abbas was a great player but we need to look beyond him. We have high hopes on Imran Warsi who is also a good penalty corner executioner,” said Zaman.
“This is a young team and the aim is to rebuild the side with an event like the Azlan Shah and if we keep on learning new things, so requisite in modern hockey, we can achieve the target,” the coach said.
Among their opponents in the tournament starting in Kuala Lumpur from Thursday are Olympic champions Australia, archrivals India, South Korea, South Africa, hosts Malaysia and New Zealand.
Australia, playing in their first major event since claiming their maiden Olympic title in Athens last year, are defending the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup they won last year.
Olympic silver medalists the Netherlands, reigning world champions Germany and Champions Trophy holders Spain are missing from the event in Malaysia.
