AFZAL JAVED

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan national hockey team will depart for China on September 21 to participate in the 19th edition of Asian Games starting from September 23rd at Hangzhou.

The training camp of the national team to prepare for the mega event is going underway at Naseer Bunda Hockey stadium Islamabad, said national hockey team manager Saeed Khan, adding that the training camp is going on in two sessions to for make some good combination in the forthcoming event as players have got less time for the preparation of Asian games for the Asian competitions.

Saeed Khan said that under the supervision of head coach Olympian Shahnaz Sheikh, special attention has been given to the shortcomings of the players and we are hopeful that the Pakistan hockey team will be successful in winning medals in the Asian Games.

He said that the team management has requested the hockey federation for replacement players for unfit players, but the decision has not been made yet, adding that Pakistan hockey team will leave for China on September 21 to participate in the mega event.

Teams from Pakistan and arch-rival India are included in Pool A, while Japan, Bangladesh, Singapore and Uzbekistan are also included in Pool A.

Pakistan team will play matches against Singapore on September 24, Bangladesh on September 26 and Uzbekistan on September 28. The match between traditional rivals Pakistan and India is scheduled on September 30, while the Green Shirts will play the final pool match against Japan on October 2.

The semi-finals of the Asian Games men’s hockey event will be played on October 4 and the final on October 6.