KARACHI, 1 March 2006 — Pakistan have retained young winger Muhammad Zubair in their 16-member hockey squad for next month’s Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.
National coach Asif Bajwa told Arab News on Monday that Zubair stayed in the side on the basis of his impressive showing in the six-Test series against India. Three other youngsters, however, were dropped from the national side that has been reduced from 20 to 16 men for the assignment Down Under. Waqas Sharif, Shabbir Khan and Mudassar Khan Jr., who were a part of the team for the home-and-away series against India, got the ax.
Influential midfielder Muhammad Saqlain would lead Pakistan in the Commonwealth Games to be held from March 15-26. Pakistan have retained key strikers Rehan Butt and Shakeel Abbasi though both are carrying injuries. The two players suffered from hamstring injuries during the series against India.
“We are hoping that both Rehan and Shakeel would recover ahead of our opening game of the Commonwealth Games,” said Bajwa, who is aiming to lead Pakistan to their first ever Commonwealth Games crown in Melbourne.
The Commonwealth Games is the only title that has eluded Pakistan, one of the most successful nations in hockey’s history. Pakistan would begin as the second seeds behind hosts and Olympic champions Australia in the Commonwealth Games hockey event. The Aussies are the defending champions and would be looking for a hat trick of titles on home soil.
Bajwa said that he wants Pakistan to top their group in order to avoid Australia in the semifinals. “Our first aim would be to qualify for the semifinals as the top team in our group. That would help us avoid a clash against Australia before the final,” said Bajwa.
Pakistan have been bracketed with Asian rivals India and Malaysia South Africa and Trinidad and Tobago in Pool B. Australia head Pool A that also includes New Zealand, England, Canada and Scotland. Pakistan will meet India in their opening game of the tournament.
“The six matches we have played against India recently would really benefit mainly because we would be playing our first match of the Commonwealth Games against them,” said Bajwa.
Pakistan defeated India 3-1 in the series but were unable to win any of the last three games held on home soil last week. They whitewashed India 3-0 in the away leg of the series earlier this month. “Having won the opening three games, we opted to test some of our newcomers in the remaining matches,” said Bajwa while explaining his team’s unconvincing results in the last three games of the series. “For us the series was a good opportunity to try out different combinations ahead of the Melbourne assignment,” he said. After a short break, the Pakistani players would reassemble in Islamabad today to get ready for the games. They would leave for Melbourne on March 5, ten days before the start of the 71-nation sporting extravaganza.
