KARACHI: While most of the other competing teams have either arrived in London or will be there in a day or two for Olympics 2012, Pakistan’s hockey players are happily camped in the little-known town of Cannock in the West Midlands region of England.
Pakistan’s hockey chiefs opted to arrange for a final preparatory camp in Cannock ahead of the London Olympics in a bid to help their players to fine tune for the Games and the team’s officials now claim that it was a perfect move.
“We couldn’t have asked for a better venue for our final pre-Olympic camp,” Khawaja Junaid, Pakistan’s coach, told ‘The News’ in a telephonic interview from Cannock on Wednesday.
“It’s a small town with great training and playing facilities and the boys are working really, really hard away from the hustle and bustle of city life,” added Junaid, a former Olympian.
Pakistan landed in England on July 12 but instead of going to the Olympic Village in East London, they headed straight for Cannock for a series of training sessions and a couple of warm-up games.
They played against Cannock’s hockey team, ranked number four in the British national hockey league, winning the match 4-1. On Wednesday evening, Pakistan were set to meet Wales in another practice match.
“We are having two training sessions daily,” said Junaid. “Our primary focus is on hockey tactics and physical fitness and I must say that everything is going perfectly smoothly as the boys get ready for London 2012.”
Captained by penalty corner specialist Sohail Abbas, Pakistan will begin the London Games as underdogs much behind fellow Pool A contestants Australia, Great Britain and Spain.
Though Pakistan are the reigning Asian Games champions, the current formbook suggests that it will take some extra-ordinary performances from the Greenshirts for them to advance to the semifinals from Pool A that also includes Argentina and South Africa.
Pakistan finished last at the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Ipoh (Malaysia) – their last major international appearance before London 2012 – earlier this summer and that’s one grim fact that haunts them ahead of London 2012.
But Junaid stressed that his charges have put aside the bitter memories of past failures are now fully focused on what is their biggest assignment of the year.
“The good thing is that the team’s morale is high and the boys are training confidently for the Olympics,” he said. “They are doing extensive training aimed at enhancing speed, strength and endurance. All of them are itching to take the field in London and are ready to give their best in the Olympics. I’m sure they’ll give a forceful show there.”
The Pakistanis will stay in Cannock till July 21 before leaving for London on the morning of July 22.
“We will move into the Olympic Village on the 22nd and will resume our final training sessions at the Olympic Park,” said Junaid.
Pakistan will play a couple of warm-up games on the blue turf at Riverbank Arena at the Olympic Park – venue for the Olympic hockey competitions. They will begin their Olympic campaign with a potentially-explosive game against Spain on July 30.
