KARACHI — India’s decision to switch the dates and venue of 2008 Junior Asia Cup from October in New Delhi to July in the southern city of Hyderabad has left Pakistani hockey officials in a tough spot.
A top official of the Pakistan junior team told Arab News on Monday that their preparation program for the Junior Asia Cup has received a huge setback because of the Indian Hockey Federation’s sudden decision to host the tournament three months ahead of the original schedule.
“We had chalked out a comprehensive training program for the Junior Asia Cup but now the new dates (announced for the tournament) have changed everything,” team manager Jahangir Butt said.
Former champions Pakistan are looking to finish among the top three teams in the Junior Asia Cup to qualify for next year’s Junior World Cup to be jointly hosted Malaysia and Singapore.
The Pakistani colts have been unable to deliver positive results in recent times, which makes it all the more important for their coaches to carry out solid homework ahead of the World Cup qualifiers in India.
“It’s now very, very difficult for us to carry out the sort of preparations we wanted before the Junior Asia Cup,” said Butt, a former Olympian.
“I mean we had planned to play around 15 matches against some of the top teams this summer but its pointless to go ahead with that schedule now because they were mostly planned for July and August,” he added.
The Junior Asia Cup was scheduled for October in the Indian capital but the IHF decided to move it to Hyderabad and recently informed the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) that the tournament will now take place from July 10-21.
Their message came a day after Butt finalized a training schedule for his team in a meeting with PHF secretary Khalid Mehmood in Lahore.
It was decided that Pakistan will play an away series against South Africa in April and later feature in a four-nation tournament in Moscow.
The PHF had also lined up test matches against the junior teams of Holland and Belgium immediately after the Moscow quadrangular.
“We were planning to proceed to Holland from Russia and play against the Dutch and Belgian teams. That way we would have played 12-15 matches against top teams but now those plans will have to be scrapped,” said Butt.
Butt’s charges recently featured in an eight-nation tournament in Kuala Lumpur where they finished a disappointing fifth. The manager later blamed lack of experience and international exposure as the main reasons behind the junior team’s below-par performance.
Butt said that he would finalize a new training schedule in consultation with the top PHF officials. “I believe that we organize a four-nation tournament in Pakistan in April. It would really benefit our players,” he said.
Butt said that the PHF will also explore other options and would write to hockey officials of leading teams in a bid to fix some matches before the Junior Asia Cup.
