Pakistan's former legendary hockey player Hasan Sardar believes that Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) should select the team for Olympics 2012 soon after the conclusion of team's ongoing European tour. "They (PHF) should finalise the team for Olympics soon. They should assess the performance of the players and carry out important changes.
I think it is now time that a team should be formed for the prestigious Olympics event," Hasan Sardar told PPI. The former chief selector said that the green-shirts should learn to beat teams like Belgium and losing a match to them by 4-1 score is an eye-opening result.
"If Pakistan is winning and losing match on such a long tour then there is no use to get worried. However, if they are losing more games and winning less than there is a point to worry about. They won a match against Belgium 1-0, but now they lost to them by 4-1.
The problem is not that that they lost the match but the problem is that they lost it by a big margin," he said. Pakistan lost their second match of two-match Test series against Belgium by 4-1 score on Saturday night, after beating the host 1-0 in the first encounter of the series. Pakistan would now play two matches against Netherlands in Netherlands on 15th and 16th July.
He said that the players have great potentials, but it would finally depend on their form and fitness, whether they could perform well in Olympics. "If they (PHF) now take a proper direction and take prudent measures, then I feel the players possess the potential to shine in the Olympics," he said.
Hasan said that December's Champions Trophy in India would serve as a litmus test for Pakistan's Olympic combination. "Champions Trophy is an annual event and it is not as important as Olympics. Olympics is a title event and Olympics title is the top crown for any sportsperson," he said.