No compromise to be made on fitness: Khawaja Junaid

Karachi, August 15, 2019: Pakistan hockey team’s head coach Khawaja Junaid says no compromise would be made on fitness and players need to go through the evaluation and assessment process to prove their mettle.

Junaid said the grey areas need to be identified to uplift the game. “If this goes on, then the day is not far when lower-ranked teams would pass us in the rankings,” he said and added currently Pakistan stands at World Ranking 17.

Junaid said we need to improve the game scientifically with data based analysis of players being done. “Time is less and we must hunt for those players who are mentally, physically and technically fit for the game of hockey,” he told APP.

He said we would get about a three-week time to prepare for the Olympic Qualifying round and in this short period we need to make players go through the evaluation and assessment process in order to pick the best possible team for the round.