Mansoor optimistic despite Champions Trophy disappointment

KUALA LUMPUR—Former Olympic goal-keeper Mansoor Ahmed believed that Pakistan’s young forwards have shown spark and promise and they still can do better in next year’s Beijing Olympics despite their disappointing results in Hockey Champions Trophy.
The results are not true reflections of their showing in the competition. They needed special handling, motivation to get back to their winning ways, he said it in an interview with APP on Thursday.
Forwards generated a number of attacking moves but their finishing was not good because of lack of confidence, he asserted.
Talent is there in the team. But motivation is need of the hour at this difficult times for national hockey, Mansoor, who played three successive Olympics in 1988, 1992 and 1996, commented.
He advocated the inclusion of two experienced players Sohail Abbas and Waseem Ahmed in the current Pakistan team. Return Sohail and Waseem can make Pak team good combinations he opined.
Featuring in the Dutch league must had made them much better players and that could benefit when they return to the national team, he said.
Pakistan Hockey Federation hierarchy by giving due respect, should call Sohail and Waseem and listened to their view point before deciding their fate, he said. They are national asset and should be utilized in the national interest, he added.
Past is past and these two players should be invited and inducted in the team after taking their consent, he maintained.
He said change of coach may have disturbed the players after Khawaja Zakuddin took over the team after Islahuddin suffered a toe fracture during the training camp in Karachi.
Mansoor said despite injury, Islah should have joined the team at later stage as an observer because he was in charge of the team since last April.
Considering nothing was at stake, Pakistan should have adopted aggressive and all-out approach and that could have brought better results, a member of 1994 World Cup and Champions Trophy winning team, said.
We must remove the fear factor of defeat from the minds of management and players which is now proving a mental bloke, he said. Creating a mental toughness among the players is key area, he remarked.
He said appointing Salman Akbar was a captain was mistake because it put him under more pressure. Goalies are always under pressure and captaincy further burdened them under the bars.
He gave the example of incident in which Salman was shown yellow card for a mistake committed by Imran Khan. Mansoor being himself a custodian, he was fully aware of these factors.
These things affected the performance of Salman and he conceded 13 goals in five matches which was a high ratio, he believed.
He offered his services in preparations of the team for the Olympics as specialized goal-keeping coach. —Agencies