*Sohail Abbas likely to be Pakistan's key player *
The Dawn
KARACHI: Pakistan's high-flying penalty corner expert Sohail Abbas is tipped to be the star of its field hockey bid in the XVII Commonwealth Games starting in Manchester next week.
The 23-year-old is the main weapon of the triple Olympic and four-time world champions, and has inspired the team to its number four ranking at international level.
"Whatever I do is for the team and I shall do my best to lift the team to gold in the Commonwealth Games," Abbas said before leaving for Spain last week.
Pakistan is competing against Spain in a four-match series before heading to Manchester.
Pakistan failed miserably at the last Games in Kuala Lumpur in 1998 when they failed to reach the semi-finals.
Pakistan outlasted Kenya 5-4, drew 3-3 with Canada and 1-1 with Malaysia but lost 3-2 to England to cap a miserable performance that year, when they also lost their Asian title to arch rival India.
"We have to compensate for the last Games' miserable show and do our best to finish first," Abbas told AFP.
The nephew of former international Safdar Abbas, Sohail Abbas has emerged as the country's leading scorer, helping Pakistan to qualify for the Sydney Olympics in the pre-Olympics qualifying event in Japan in 2000 with 12 goals. He also played a key role in Pakistan's win in the Azlan Shah tournament in Malaysia in 1999 and a 3-2 win in the five-match series against India the same year.
Pakistan lost the semi-finals to South Korea when Abbas' attempts were thwarted in the pre-final of the Sydney 2000 Olympics.
Abbas finished as second top scorer with eight goals in the 2000 Olympics. He became Pakistan's goal-churning machine creating two world records - scoring the most goals in a calender year (60 in 1999) and the fastest century of goals (two years, six months and 18 days).
With a tally of 162 goals he surpassed legendary center forward Hasan Sardar's national record of 150 goals.
Abbas' 10 goals in the World Cup held in Malaysia this year failed to help his team reach the semi-finals, which left him bitterly disappointed.
"We have been playing fairly good hockey but the results are not forthcoming. This time around we must ensure we win the Commonwealth title," he said.
Pakistan coach Tahir Zaman highlighted the strategic value of Abbas. "We heavily rely on Abbas and we're hoping that his stick wields magic for us in the Games," said Zaman, a former Olympian.
Pakistan is placed alongside Canada, England and Wales in group "B" while defending champions Australia, New Zealand, Barbados and South Africa are in pool "A.