Asian hockey teams and players need more exposure, says Imran Butt

Muscat: The Asian hockey teams like Pakistan, India and South Korea and the players need more leagues to raise their level to that of their European counterparts, according to Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) team captain and Pakistan international goalkeeper Imran Butt.
Iman Butt, who is currently in Oman guarding Al Nasr goal in the ongoing OHA League, stressed the need for the Asian players to be involved in the international leagues in the region.
Speaking on the sidelines of a press conference organised to announce the details of Independence Cup hockey match between PIA and Oman national team, the talented Pakistani custodian said: “The Asian teams and the players need more exposure. Not just in Pakistan and India, even South Korea, we all need more exposure and more competitions. The players of our Asian countries should be playing in more leagues to improve our standard and be on par with the Europeans.”
“The European countries have their own leagues and all their players get to play in those leagues. Most of us (the Asian players) don’t get the opportunity to play in those leagues because of the bridge in the standard. Obviously those teams prefer the players of European standards,” Imran Butt, who is unlikely to play in the PIA-Oman match, said.
“So we need to have our own leagues in Asia where players from all the countries will be able to play. We need to raise our standards,” he said while also stressing the need to have more matches between Pakistan and India.
“It will be great for Asian hockey to have India and Pakistan playing more matches. It doesn’t matter where we are playing. But we definitely need more matches not just to improve our sporting relations and the standard of our game but for the good of Asian hockey as a whole,” he said.
Grow stronger
Imran Butt also lamented the lack of professional setup in the Asian countries.
“We still lack professionalism and proper facilities. So we need to keep improving on those aspects. We have to adopt the European coaching and training systems to raise our standard.”
“If you don’t want an European head coach, at least you should have an European trainer with a proper professional setup,” he said.
“Take the example of India. They have been under European coaches for some time now and the improvement is there to be seen. They are definitely better now than in the past,” he said.
Imran Butt is of the opinion the Asian nations will grow stronger and have their say only when they develop at all levels.
“We have to put aside politics and favouritism as well as our personal interests, to not just improve our game but to get stronger as hockey playing nations. Only then we will have a say at the world level on matters like rule changes and for that matter how the game is run. We need to take the cue from cricket,” he said.