National head coach hockey Khawaja Junaid said that sports should not be affected by border tension. If home and away series is not possible between Pakistan and India then their matches can be held in UAE, Kuwait, England, Malaysia and Canada.
Khwaja Junaid said that European teams will rise over Asian teams if both the teams could not play hockey. Pakistan need more international matches before scheduled World Cup qualifying round in England next year for good results.
Khawaja Junaid said that sports can unite world while hockey matches are very popular in both India and Pakistan and their mutual competitions are viewed all around the world. He added that if hockey also sacrificed for their enmity then European teams will soon go ahead over Asian teams. It is required to play many matches between the two countries on neutral venues. He said that they are losing against India for the past two years. It is because India played around 200 international matches in events like World Cup, Olympics, Champion’s Trophy, Sultan Azlan Shah and others while their competitions remained far less.
He said he took the job of head coach just 15 days before Sultan Azlan Shah and they prepared new team of talented players and worked on them after which they were able to play final match. But still it is required to improve penalty corner attack, defense and deep defense.
World Cup qualifying round is scheduled in England from 15th to 25th June in which Pakistan and few other teams will participate directly.
