Category: Hockey

LAHORE: Renowned Dutch coach Roelant Oltmans, who has previously coached Pakistan’s National hockey team has landed in the country to train the junior players of the Rana Zaheer Academy for competitive hockey.

Oltmans, who has previously coached Pakistan’s national hockey team, Netherlands, India and Malaysia, has landed in the country to train the junior players as Rana Zaheer Academy attained his services.

The Dutch coach received a warm welcome from the Olympians Shafqat Rasool, Shafqat Ali and Hockey Coach Rana Zaheer at Allama Iqbal International Airport here.

According to the Director of the Academy, the Punjab Sports Board played a vital role in hiring the services of the Dutch coach as the board will also prepare a pool of 50 children who will be trained under Oltman’s coaching for two weeks.

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LAUSANNE: Pakistan five-a-side Hockey team failed to qualify for the finals on the concluding day of the fast-paced FIH Hockey5s tournament as the team faced an upset by the Switzerland 5-7, followed by a 5-5 draw against Malaysia. Pakistan finished 3rd in the event.

Pakistan in their first match of the day faced a stunning defeat by the Swiss team which scored seven goals as Pakistan was able to score five in the match.

The initial failure of the day left Pakistan to win against Malaysia in their final group match in order to qualify for the finals, however, a 5-5 draw against Malaysia rendered the team to finish at the 3rd position.

The two finalists Poland and India encountered each other in a thrilling final before India crushed Poland 6-4 to become the first champions of the Hockey5s men’s championship.

Uruguay women’s team on the other remained undefeated in the women’s event of Hockey5s and clinched the title after defeating Switzerland in the final.

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KARACHI: In a first, a hockey academy has reached an agreement for hiring the services of successful Dutch Olympic and World Champion coach Roelant Oltmans, who has previously coached Pakistan’s National hockey team as well. 

The Dutch coach will arrive in Pakistan as Rana Zaheer Academy has hired his services in order to train children for competitive hockey.

Oltmans will be arriving in Pakistan on June 14 as the Dutch will be the first foreign coach hired by any hockey academy in Pakistan.

According to the Director of the Academy, the Punjab Sports Board played a vital role in hiring the services of the Dutch coach as the board will also prepare a pool of 50 children who will be trained under Oltman’s coaching.

The Dutch coach has previously coached Pakistan’s national hockey team, and he also remained the coach of the Netherlands, India and Malaysia men’s hockey teams. The Netherlands won the 1998 Men’s Hockey World Cup under his coaching.

READ: Pakistan draw with India 2-2, thrash Poland 4-2 in FIH Hokey5s

KARACHI: Oman’s Veterans Hockey team has reached Pakistan to play a three-match bilateral series, Olympian Syed Sameer Hussain received the touring side at Jinnah International Airport, here on Saturday.

Oman’s veteran side received a warm welcome upon their arrival in the country as the former hockey player Mohammad Ali was also present at the airport to welcome the touring side.

The 23-member contingent of Oman’s veterans comprises 20 players and three officials. The touring side will lock horns with the Pakistan veterans Hockey club team in a three-match series.

The matches of the series will take place under the lights on June 5, 7, and 9 respectively at the Olympian IslahUddin-Dr.Shah Hockey Academy here.

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LAHORE: Pakistan’s five-a-side hockey team has departed for Switzerland to participate in the upcoming tournament, scheduled to kick off on June 4.

The national squad of the five-a-side hockey departed for Lausanne, Switzerland via a foreign airline at 3 o’clock last night to participate in the hockey tournament.

The head coach Rehan Butt and the coach Waqas Sharif are accompanying the side for their forthcoming challenge.

The Green Shirts will be facing a major challenge on the opening day of the two-day tournament as they face the arch-rivals India and inform Malaysia to start their campaign.

PAKISTAN SQUAD: Waqar Younis (goalkeeper), Ehtesham Aslam, Aqeel Ahmed, Mohammad Murtaza Yaqoob, Tanzeem Al Hassan Kaptan, Arshad Liaqat, Hassan Amin, Abuzar, Abdul Rahman and Mohammad Shahzeb

LAHORE: Pakistan five-a-side Hockey coach Olympian Rehan Butt claimed that the team is focusing more on their clash against the arch-rival India in the upcoming tournament, scheduled to be held in Switzerland.

Rehan, in a statement, ahead of the team’s departure for Switzerland to participate in the tournament, claimed that Malaysia and India are going to give tough times to the Green Shirts while the side has a sharp focus on their faceoff with the arch-rivals.

“Malaysia and India will give us a tough time in the event but we are focusing more on the match against India,” Rehan shared.

“Everyone enjoys the match between Pakistan and India, we will try our best to play well and win against them,” he added

Talking about the team’s preparation for the event Rehan claimed that his team was fully prepared for the new format of the game.

“We have prepared well for the new format, fitness has been the major emphasis,” he stated. “I am fully satisfied with the fitness and skills of the players and we hope to play well.”

Pakistan’s five-a-side hockey team will be departing tomorrow to participate in the event which will be held in Switzerland.

READ: Hockey Men’s schedule for Commonwealth Games announced

BIRMINGHAM: The schedule for the Men’s Hockey event at the forthcoming Commonwealth Games 2022 has been announced today, Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) confirmed.

According to the details, the Commonwealth Games’ hockey event will begin on July 29 and will feature 10 teams.

All of the teams were split into two pools. Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, and Scotland are in Pool A, while India, England, Canada, Wales, and Ghana are in Pool B.

Pakistan Hockey team will start their Commonwealth Games campaign against South Africa on July 30 and will lock horns with New Zealand on July 31.

The Green Shirts will take on Switzerland and Australia in their remaining group fixtures.

The semi-finals of the event will be contested on August 6, while the final will be played on August 8.

READ: Pakistan thrash Bangladesh to finish fifth in the Hockey Asia Cup 2022

JAKARTA: Pakistan Men’s National Hockey Team handed a crushing defeat to Bangladesh in the position match by 8-0 to finish fifth in the Hockey Asia Cup 2022.

Pakistan, which were knocked out of the tournament following India’s astounding 16-0 victory over the hosts Indonesia in the group match, played several position matches in the tournament and claimed the fifth position after defeating Bangladesh by 8-0 today.

Pakistani players dismantled the opposition in a one-sided contest as they made multiple strikes to take the team’s tally to eight in the end.

Mubashir Ali netted the ball twice while Rizwan Ali, Afraz, Abdul Hannan Shahid, Umar Bhutta, Ajaz Ahmed, and Ghazanfar Ali made one strike each.

According to the details, the national hockey team will travel back to the country on June 3 and will now turn their attention toward the upcoming Commonwealth Games, scheduled to kick off on July 28.

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KARACHI: The head coach of the Pakistan Men’s National Hockey Team Siegfried Aikman has accepted the mistake of fielding 12 players in the Green Shirts’ last group match of the Asia Cup.

Aikman, who is in the Netherlands to spend some time with his family following Pakistan’s exit from the Asia Cup, commented about the incident of mistakenly deploying 12 players on the field and accepted all the responsibility.

“We were making changes in a matter of minutes during the match against Japan. However, I, being the head coach, accept that 12 players should not be on the field and I accept this responsibility as the coach,” Aikman stated.

“It was a big omission by the team management and due to this shortcoming we could not qualify for the World Cup,” he maintained.

The Dutch coach then also accepted that the shortcoming hurt the sentiments of the Pakistan Hockey fans and therefore apologized to the nation on behalf of the entire team management.

“I understand that the Pakistani fans are sad following this incident and therefore I and my team apologize for disappointing you,” he stated.

Aikman further shared his disappointment with Pakistan’s early exit from the Asia Cup and failing to qualify for the Hockey World Cup while claiming that things will take time to get back to normal.

“We are disappointed to be out of the Asia Cup Super Eight and World Cup. We lost just one match in the event and trailed by one goal margin,” he said.

“Our team is undergoing restructuring, we want to strengthen Pakistan Hockey. We dominated teams like Japan and India. When I came, Pakistan Hockey was in the decline and I think things will take time to get back on track.

“We get fewer matches, we need to play 35 to 40 matches a year and I think our players will get the valuable experience after getting to play more matches,” Aikman concluded.

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JAKARTA: Pakistan Men’s National Hockey Team will fly back to the country on June 3 after participating in the ongoing Hockey Asia Cup 2022.

The Green Shirts finished in the third place in Group A after the arch-rivals India dethroned the side from the second position following a consolidating 16-0 victory over the hosts Indonesia.

India’s astounding effort against Indonesia prevented the Green Shirts from qualifying to the top-four of the Asia Cup and also shattered the side’s hopes of World Cup qualification.

Pakistan Hockey team will now turn their attention toward the upcoming Commonwealth Games, scheduled to kick off on July 28. According to the details, the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) will hold a camp after a gap of two weeks from the team’s arrival.

The head coach of the national hockey Siegfried Aikman, on the other hand, will not accompany the side, on their way back to the country as the Dutch coach opted to spend some time with his family in the Netherlands.

It is pertinent to mention here that the PHF has to send the final list of the selected players to the Pakistan Olympics Association (POA) by May 31 for the upcoming Commonwealth Games.

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