ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s national hockey team held its first training session in Belgium on Thursday after arriving later than scheduled due to a missed connecting flight, as preparations intensified for the crucial second leg of the FIH Pro League.
The Green Shirts reached Belgium on Wednesday evening after experiencing significant travel disruptions during their journey via Istanbul. Despite the delay, the team wasted no time in settling into preparations and took to the field on Thursday morning to begin training for their opening match against hosts Belgium, scheduled for Saturday (tomorrow).
Sources within the team revealed that the players had to spend nearly nine hours at the airport after missing their originally booked flight, resulting in an overall delay of around eight hours in reaching their destination.
“We stayed at the airport for almost nine hours after missing the booked flight and had to wait for the next available connection,” a senior player told The News from Belgium. “There was simply no earlier flight available, which is why we reached Belgium much later than planned.”
The unexpected travel setback added to the challenges facing the national side, which is preparing for a demanding series of matches against some of the world’s top-ranked teams. However, officials remained confident that the disruption would have little impact on the team’s preparations.
A Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) official confirmed that the missed flight resulted from delays in the earlier leg of the journey. “Such issues have become common because of the travel situation in the Middle East. The team’s departure was delayed, which caused them to miss the connecting flight. They eventually reached Belgium at around 9pm instead of the scheduled 2pm on Wednesday. Fortunately, no training session had been planned for that day, so the players were able to rest before beginning their preparations on Thursday as originally scheduled,” the official said.
Pakistan face a challenging European tour as part of their FIH Pro League campaign. The team will play four matches against Belgium and Spain before travelling to England for the final leg, where they are scheduled to take on traditional rivals India and hosts England.
The players must also adapt quickly to a dramatic change in weather conditions. Having departed from temperatures approaching 48 degrees Celsius, the squad is now training in Belgium where temperatures are hovering below 20 degrees Celsius.
The sharp contrast in climate presents an additional test for the players, who have only two days to acclimatise before taking on world-class opposition. Team management and coaching staff will be hoping that the adjustment period proves sufficient as Pakistan seek to make a strong start against Belgium and revive their fortunes in international hockey.
With the opening match just around the corner, all eyes will be on how quickly the national side adapts to the European conditions and whether the brief preparation window will be enough to overcome the effects of a demanding journey and challenging weather transition.
