Moment of truth for Pak as World Cup qualifiers begin

KARACHI: The moment of truth for Pakistan hockey arrives in Lille, France, on Saturday when the seventh-ranked team faces the 26th-ranked Italy at the Metropole Club in the first encounter of the World Cup qualifiers.

The national hockey team is featuring in the six-nation tournament as a consequence of losing the Asia Cup final by 0-1 to Korea in May.

The qualifiers, beginning Saturday, will conclude on Nov 8 and Pakistan have to beat all the other participating teams in order to play in the 2010 World Cup to be played in New Delhi, India, from Feb 28 to March 13.

They play their second match against 23rd-ranked Russia (Nov 1), third against 17th-ranked France (Nov 3), fourth against 14th-ranked Japan (Nov 5) and fifth against 22nd-ranked Poland (Nov 7) while the final will be played on the concluding day (Nov 8).

The team that has met several challenges in the form of dropping an important member due to fears of doping, injuries to players and visa hassles since the start of the preparatory camp for this tournament, finally reached its destination on Oct 25 to be informed by the event’s organisers that the pitch where the matches were to be played would not be ready until Oct 29.

Therefore, they had to carry out their training sessions as well as play the practice games with local clubs at an alternate venue.

Playing friendly matches with the competing teams was out anyway due to shortage of time.

The team had earlier planned to leave for Europe on Sept 24 to play three Tests with hosts France on the 27th, 28th and 30th that were to be followed by two Tests against Poland (Oct 3 and 4) and three against Belgium (Oct 6, 7 and 8).

But unable to acquire Schengen visas enabling them to freely tour through Europe, on time, they had to reschedule their programme twice. Later, they dropped Belgium to play in Poland and France alone and then it was decided that they fly directly to France.

Pakistan have never missed playing in a hockey World Cup since its inaugural tournament in Spain in 1971. Winning that title, they went on to win three more — in Argentina in 1978, in India in 1982 and in Australia in 1994.

Zeeshan Ashraf’s men may be in a do-or-die situation at the moment but they are also the favourites, according to the experts of the game.

Flying Horse Samiullah believes that the national side has a much better chance against the other competing teams who are all much lower down in world rankings.

‘There should be nothing stopping the team from winning the event provided the players play responsibly,’ he said.

Chief Coach Shahid Ali Khan said before leaving for France that they better win or they return as zeroes instead of heroes. ‘We have practiced very hard and are hoping for the best results. The boys, too, are in first-class shape. But winning is all that matters otherwise everything adds up to zero,’ he had announced.

Meanwhile, showing confidence in his boys, skipper and fullback Zeeshan Ashraf had said that they still shouldn’t underestimate the other seemingly-mediocre sides.

The team is a good combination of new talent and experience. Centre-half Wasim Ahmed, forward Rehan Butt, and goalkeeper Salman Akbar joined the team directly in France while the remaining 15 left from Lahore last Sunday.

Besides the World Cup qualifiers in France, two other qualifiers are also scheduled to take place — in New Zealand (Nov 7-15) featuring China, Malaysia, Austria, Scotland and Wales besides the hosts, and in Argentina (Nov 17-22) featuring Belgium, Ireland, USA, Czech Republic and Italy besides the hosts.

The nine teams that have already qualified for the World Cup comprise hosts India, Canada (Pan American Cup champions), Korea (Asia Cup champions), Australia (Oceania Cup champions), South Africa (Africa Cup champions), England (Euro Hockey Nations’ champions), Germany (silver medallist of Euro Hockey Nations’ Cup), Netherlands (bronze medallist of Euro Hockey Nations’ Cup) and Spain (fourth-ranked team of Euro Hockey Nations’ Cup).

Team

Goalkeepers: Salman Akbar and Nasir Ahmad.

Fullbacks: Zeeshan Ashraf (captain), Sohail Abbas and Mohammad Imran.

Halves: Mohammad Irfan, Wasim Ahmad, Sajjad Anwar, Fareed Ahmad and Mohammad Rashid.

Forwards: Rehan Butt, Shakeel Abbasi, Haseem Khan, Abbas Haider, Akhtar Ali, Waqas Sharif, Shafqat Rasool and Mohammad Zubair.

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Pakistan begin WC qualifier campaign in style

KARACHI: Penalty-corner specialist fullback Sohail Abbas lived up to expectations as Pakistan thrashed Italy 5-0 in their first match of the hockey World Cup qualifiers, played at the Metropole Club in Lille, France on Saturday.

According to the information received here, the match saw as many as three goals being scored on penalty-corners with Sohail converting two in the 31st and 47th minutes. The third was scored by fullback Mohammad Imran in the 43rd minute.

The first half score was 1-0 in favour of the favourites with four goals coming in the second half. The last two goals were both successful field attempts by forwards Mohammad Zubair and Haseem Khan in the 52nd and and 68th minutes, respectively.

Pakistan play their second match on Sunday against Russia, who beat Japan 4-0 in the first match.

Pakistan - Italy 5:0 (1:0)
PAK 31mn Sohail ABBAS (PC) 1:0
PAK 43mn Muhammad IMRAN (PC) 2:0
PAK 47mn Sohail ABBAS (PC) 3:0
PAK 52mn Muhammad ZUBAIR (FG) 4:0
PAK 68mn Abdul Haseem KHAN (FG) 5:0

Standings:

Pakistan 3pts
Japan 3pts
France 1pt
Poland 1pt
Russia 0pt
Italy 0pt

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All Set For ICC Champions Trophy 2009

Champions Trophy 2009 held to begin from the 22 September to 5 October at Wanderers Stadium and Centurion Park in Johannesberg in South Africa. Two teams from two group of four will form the semi finals with the final played on 5 October.

Last year tournament was supposed to be happen in Pakistan but was postponed until October 2009 due to security concerns after the attack on Sri Lankan teams. Group A consists of Australia, India, Pakistan and West Indies Group B consists of England, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and New Zealand. Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen stars of England team will not play for ICC Champions. Australia defeated England in the recent 50 over series and England became the first team to lose a series by 7-0. After the beginning of Twenty20, the popularity of 50 over game has declin

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Davide Grassi Injury Knocks Aberdeen

Davide Grassi has been discarded for three months from Aberdeen after experiencing a triple cheekbone fracture. This accident happened when Co-Operative Insurance Cup defeated Dundee, his head clashed with defender David Cowan.

As a substitute to Sone Aluko on the left of midfield, Grassi was signed for this match. Sone Aluko will not play match for another month as he is in Nigeria squad for the Under-20 World Cup held in Egypt. This tournament will last for until the 16 October. Davide Grassi had signed a one-year contract with Aberdeen in the month of August. This injury happened just five minutes into the loss of 3-2 to the first division side.

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Salomon Kalau Signs A New Deal With Chelsea

Salomon Kalau Chelsea striker signed a new three-year contract with the Stamford Bridge club, which should keep him in west London until 2012. Carlo Ancelotti Blues Manager told at an official website that Salomon an important player for the club and he is pleased that Salomon has signed a new contract.

Ivory Coast star £8m signing from Feyenoord in 2006 was set to become a free agent next summer. Chelsea was currently appealing against a transfer ban imposed by Fifa, which prevents them from registering new players until January 2011. Later punishment was cancelled after the club was found guilty of suggesting Gael Kakuta to breach his contract with Lens in 2007. Kalou follows Didier Drogba, Ashley Cole and John Terry in vowing his future with the Premier League outfit and banned from signing any new players for the next two transfers window. Kalau was often used as a substitute since his move to west London with five of his 10 appearances this season coming off the bench. In total, he has made 93 starts, 66 substitute appearances for Chelsea and scored 31 goals. Ancelotti added saying Salomon is very well motivated and work hard for his game and he is sure of Salomon becoming an important player in future. Kalou is likely to play at next summer’s World Cup finals after Ivory Coast sealed their qualification with a 1-1 draw against Malawi.

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Confident Pakistan leaves to face New Zealand

LAHORE: Pakistan's 16-man cricket squad left for Dubai early Friday with coach Intikhab Alam confident his team can beat New Zealand in the limited-over series.

Pakistan will play three one-day internationals on November 3, 6, 9 in Abu Dhabi and two Twenty20 internationals on November 12 and 13 in Dubai, in a series relocated to the United Arab Emirates over security fears.

'Confidence is high and if we play to our potential we can win the series,' Alam told reporters at Lahore airport.

'We have been doing well in one-day cricket and I hope the good work will continue.'

Younus Khan leads the one-day squad, while all-rounder Shahid Afridi will take over for the Twenty20 internationals.

Also leaving the squad after the one-day matches will be opener Salman Butt, Mohammad Yousuf and Wahab Riaz. Imran Nazir, Fawad Alam and Sohail Tanveer will join the 15-man Twenty20 squad.

After the UAE series, Pakistan will fly to New Zealand for three Tests. The series was also originally scheduled to be held in Pakistan but relocated after their rivals refused to tour owing to the security fears.

Younus will return to lead the Test squad.

One-day squad: Younus Khan (capt), Salman Butt, Imran Farhat, Khalid Latif, Mohammad Yousuf, Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, Umer Akmal, Kamran Akmal, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Saeed Ajmal, Umar Gul, Mohammad Aamir, Rao Iftikhar, Wahab Riaz.

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