13-Jun-2012
The News
KARACHI: Pakistan hockey team’s nightmare continued on Monday when they were crushed 6-1 by Belgium in a match in Antwerp just weeks before the Olympics gets underway in London next month.
After crashing to a catastrophic last-place finish at this month’s Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Ipoh (Malaysia), Pakistan were hoping to achieve some improvement but they flopped miserably against the Belgians.
A goal from drag flick ace Sohail Abbas was the only consolation for the Pakistanis who were beaten by a tennis score by Belgium, one of the lower-ranked teams at summer’s Olympics.
Monday’s game was Pakistan’s tour opener as the Greenshirts will play three more games against European powerhouses Germany and Netherlands later this week. The Pakistanis moved to Cologne on Tuesday where they will take on Germany in back-to-back games on June 13 and 14 before meeting the Dutch in the Netherlands in their final match of the brief trip.
Pakistan suffered a setback on the eve of their game against Belgium when it was confirmed that three senior players – who were recalled for the trip – will not be able to join the team in Europe because of a visa issue.
Former Pakistan captain Shakeel Abbasi, Waseem Ahmed and Muhammad Imran were picked in the national team for the tour of Europe at the last minute. However, the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) failed to obtain visas for the trio. Their visa applications were rejected by the Dutch Embassy in Islamabad earlier this week.
The trio have now been told to attend a back-up training camp to be held in Lahore under the supervision of Anjum Saeed and Danish Kaleem.
Source: http://www.thenews.com.pk/ |
