London Olympics : Pakistan Hockey squad placed in Pool "A"

ISLAMABAD: The London Olympics Organizing Committee, together with the International Hockey Federation (FIH), on Tuesday unveiled the London Olympic Hockey 2012 competition schedule be held in London from July 30 to August 11.

A total of twelve teams are participating in the mega event and are divided into two pools, says a press release issued here.

Pool-A includes Pakistan, Australia, Great Britain, Spain, Argentina and South Africa while Pool-B comprises Germany, Netherlands, Korea, New Zealand, India and Belgium.

Pakistan will play its first match against Spain on July 30 followed by second match against Argentina on August 1, third match against Great Britain on August 3, fourth match against South Africa on August 5 and the fifth match against Australia on August 7.

However Pakistan national hockey team skipper Sohail Abbas wants to have an Indo-Pak encounter in the Olympics. In Olympics, every match is equally important to us and we would treat each one as a final but a match with India is what everybody wants to see, he said.

Sohail Abbas further said that the national team has a very good chance of winning Gold in the Olympics this year.

"I am confident that we (our team) will put in their maximum effort in training and that will be visible through our performance. While having complete faith in God, and working hard we are hopeful of having a good chance," Sohail said.

Responding to a question, Sohail said players should be passionate towards the game of hockey and the entire team should play as one unit.

"If you play as a team, all these things don't matter. Once you stop playing as a team, that's when these factors about them being physically bigger and stronger come into play," he said. (APP)