Pakistan may host Malaysia for hockey series at home

The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) is keen to arrange some international matches to prepare its team for the upcoming FIH Hockey World League semifinals slated to be held in Johor Bahru, Malaysia from June 29 to July 7.

The extra interest shown by the Pakistan Hockey Federation is largely due to the fact that the national team isn’t having any international assignments after the much-hyped India-Pakistan home-and-away Test series was called off by the Indian government because of diplomatic tensions.

The PHF feels that the national team needs to get some international matches under its belt before they embark on the tour of Malaysia for the FIH Hockey World League semifinals.

Pakistan Hockey Federation sources said the federation has drawn up plans to host a series against Malaysia.

According to the PHF, it is working out the modalities of the series with the Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF). It is learnt that both PHF and MHF were trying to arrange a bilateral series at the earliest.

The PHF is aware that international teams are wary about travelling to Pakistan citing security concerns. The federation believes that more international matches would help the national team to prepare not just for the Hockey World League semifinals, but also for the 2014 men’s World Cup scheduled to be held in The Hague, Netherlands.

It is also learnt that the PHF wants to use the international matches to try out their junior players so that they can get a clear picture of which players to pick for the 2013 Junior Men’s World Cup, slated to be held in New Delhi.

Pakistan finished sixth after losing the play-off tie for the 5-6 spot to arch-rivals India 2-4. The bottom-place finish led to former players calling for large-scale changes in the team as well as in the hockey federation.

It may be mentioned here that Pakistan had rested experienced campaigners like Shakeel Abbasi, Wassem Ahmed, Rizwan Senior among others for the 22nd Sultan Azlan Shah Cup.

The Sultan Azlan Shah Cup was the only blemish for the Pakistan team in recent months.

The Greenshirts exacted sweet revenge over India, pipping them 5-4 in a high-voltage final clash to win the second Asian Champions Trophy tournament held in Doha, Qatar last December.

Earlier, Pakistan picked up the bronze medal in the 34th FIH Champions Trohpy tourney held in Melbourne, Australia, putting it across arch-rivals India in the play-off match after both teams performed creditably to reach the semifinals of the premier hockey event.