Pakistan coach satisfied with team's performance despite India loss in Hockey Junior Asia Cup final

Pakistan junior hockey team head coach Qamar Ibrahim on Thursday was happy with the way his charges played in the Junior Asia Cup which concluded on Wednesday in Muscat, Oman, with India conquering the green shirts 5-3 in the tensely-contested finale.

“To be honest the team played tremendously well,” Qamar told Nukta from Muscat on Thursday.

“As many as seven boys of our team had their first international tour and our brigade underwent training as a team for just four days. And despite that we took a lead against India in the final and twice we bounced back.

“Indian team had been doing training and availing tours for the last one year and they entered the Junior Asia Cup directly after playing a tournament at the Johar Baru and I think they were the more experienced side as compared to Pakistan.”

Qamar said that they would provide the side with good exposure and will train them well for the Junior World Cup which India will host next year.

“InshaAllah we will do our best to give them ample exposure and training for the Junior World Cup,” Qamar said.

He also appreciated Pakistan Hockley Federation (PHF) for backing the brigade despite limited resources.

“I must appreciate the efforts of the PHF chief and secretary. With limited available resources they provided us maximum facilities. I also must give the credit to my team management and players who worked hard and managed to perform at their best,” Qamar said.

Pakistan made a bright start to their Group B by demolishing China 7-2. They then crushed Bangladesh 6-0 before downing Oman 7-0. Pakistan then defeated Malaysia 4-1 to secure top spot in their group.

In the semi-finals, Pakistan defeated strong Japan 4-2 to set a final clash with India.

The top six teams at the Asia Cup progress to the next year’s Junior World Cup. Besides India and Pakistan, Japan, Malaysia, Bangladesh, China and Thailand made it to the event. As India had already guaranteed World Cup spot as hosts of the global event so the seventh-place finishers Thailand got a spot too.

This will be the first time that Bangladesh, China and Thailand will participate in the FIH Hockey Men’s Junior World Cup.

This will be the first time that 24 teams will be featuring in the World Cup as the event has been expanded.

Besides those which qualified from Asia, Belgium, England, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Austria and Switzerland have qualified from Europe. Argentina, Canada and Chile have qualified from the Americas. Additionally, three more teams each from Oceania and Africa will qualify for the World Cup to complete the qualification process over the next few months.