Saturday, April 12, 2008, Rabi-ul-Sani 5,1429    

Pakistan Hockey team to play 10 matches on European tour

Karachi—Pakistan hockey team will be playing as many as ten international matches during their European trip starting from May 21, Secretary Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) Khalid Mahmood said on Friday.

“Pakistan will be touring Germany, France and Belgium from May 21,” he said. Pakistan will play four internationals against Germany on the first leg of their tour.

German Hockey Federation has fixed this event in between a women’s competition to be held in Cologne.

He said Pakistan team will play three matches each against France and Belgium after the German tour.

“We want to provide extensive practice to the team in build-up for the Beijing Olympics,” Olympian Khalid Mahmood said.

Khalid Mahmood said PHF Chief wanted to provide maximum exposure to the players before the Olympics to achieve better results in China. He said from Belgium the team will fly to Dublin for the four- nation event to be held in Ireland from June 11 to 15.

Besides Pakistan, Canada Great Britain and host Ireland will be taking part in the tournament.

He expressed the hope that by playing against best European teams like Germany, Britain, Belgium and Canada it will provide them extensive practice for Olympics.

He said after the participation of Azlan Shah Cup in Malaysia to be held there from May 8 to 18, Pakistan hockey team will directly fly to Frankfurt on the first leg of European tour.—APP