‘Germany, Netherlands junior hockey teams to tour Pakistan’

KARACHI: Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) president Brig (retd) Khalid Sajjad Khokar has said that Germany and Netherlands have agreed to tour Pakistan for junior hockey test series early next year.

While talking to ‘The News’ after returning from Netherlands on Saturday, the PHF boss praised the Green-shirts for their performance against the Dutch in the Olympic 2020 qualifiers.

“Our team has improved a lot and played well against Netherlands, but there was still a big difference between the two sides in terms of experience and skills,” said Khalid.

“We are ranked 17th, while they are 3rd in world rankings. We played outstandingly well against them in the first match but due to a controversial decision late in the game, it ended in a 4-4 draw and we could not win it. That was a great setback for us,” he said.

Khalid said that he had a chance to talk to officials of both the Germany and Netherlands hockey federations and they have agreed to send their junior teams to Pakistan for a reciprocal series.

“A three or five match test series against each of the two teams has been proposed and it is likely that it will be played in January-February next year,” Khalid said.

“We are in touch with both the federations and further details and itinerary will be announced in the near future,” he added.

The PHF chief said that he had assured the Germany and Netherlands federations that Pakistan is a safe place now and has, in recent past, hosted hockey matches of the World XI, featuring players from Netherlands, Spain and Germany.

He added that team officials for the junior side, including manager and head coach, will be named after further consideration.