ISLAMABAD
Pakistan hockey team head coach/manager Olympian Shahnaz Sheikh has visited the Naseer Bunda Hockey Stadium (NBHS) on Monday and expressed his satisfaction over the renovation and maintenance work of the astro-turf.
He also praised deputy director general facilities Agha Amjedullah for fulfilling his promise made on March 5, when Shahnaz paid first visit of the venue, but there was still a lot of work needed to be done, but Agha did wonders and fulfilled his promise by completing the work in a few days.
Talking to The Nation, Shahnaz said: “When I visited the venue on March 5, the astro-turf was in shambles, and I was very worried as we had planned to start training camp from the third week of March. We want to start camp at Islamabad as we were rendered the best possible facilities here, and the accommodation and meal provided by assistant director hostels Malik Imtiaz Hussain was exceptional. But the only obstacle was the poor state of astro-turf, which Agha now prepared well and the turf is now in perfect condition. I am very glad and happy, the way Agha and his team has tremendously renovated it and made it playable.”
“I have met with PHF president Chaudhry Akhtar Rasool and secretary Rana Mujahid Ali and discussed in detail the report I have submitted with the federation after Champions Trophy final. They are agreed to start the training camp with immediate effect,” he added.
“I have requested the federation to arrange at least 30 to 35 international matches prior to Olympic Qualifiers in Belgium from June 20 to July 5. The main aim of establishing the camp is to prepare for that event. We will invite 30 to 35 players for the camp,” Shahnaz said.
He asserted: “I am very grateful to all those well wishers who condoled the death of my wife and I request them to continue praying for the departed soul.”  “I am very thankful to the Punjab chief minister for giving Rs 300,000 cheques to the Champions Trophy and Asian Games finalist team members. We will travel to Karachi on March 21 to collect Rs two million and gold medals announced by Omar Associates, but we are still waiting for the promises made by Malik Riaz Hussain, Pakistan Sports Board and Governor Sindh and I hope they will fulfill their promises soon, as the players deserve incentives to be handed over to them quickly. It will put a new lease of life in their performance and I am quite sure they will perform well in the upcoming events including the all-important Olympic Qualifiers,” the coach stated.  He said the main aim of establishing the month long-camp was to rectify mistakes the players had committed during the Champions Trophy. We will emphasize on defense, short corner conversion and plenty strokes. Working on plenty strokes is now our top most priority. Other teams have recorded our videos, so we want to change our strategy and want to work on improving man-to-man marking. We have some flaws in our defense, which will be removed during the camp.”
“We have managed to control missing ratio, but I am still not satisfied with the amount of chances we failed to convert. I will mainly focus on these shortcomings and I am quite sure, soon the boys will be able to produce wonders for the country. I am quite satisfied with the so far results, but still there is a lot to be done.
“We have put the team on right track, and hopefully, the government will release the long overdue grant and arrange long-awaited meeting with Prime Minister will also take place on March 20. I request PM Nawaz Sharif to take some time off from his busy schedule and invite the federation, players and team management for a meeting, so that things could be cleared and we could entirely focus on ground performances, rather than finances.
We have already missed a number of high-profile international events, so we can't afford any further delay in touring foreign countries,” Shahnaz concluded.