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Abbas aims at gold

AFP, Karachi
Pakistan's goalchurning machine and penalty corner expert Sohail Abbas yearns for an Olympic gold at Athens for his field hockey team.
Abbas, 23, has 247 goals from 201 international matches. He needs just 20 more goals to match the world record held by the legendary Dutch striker Paul Litjens.
He is tipped to be one of the stars of the field hockey event with his ferocious goal-scoring penalty corner conversions, which are known for sending shivers through rival camps.
Abbas has bagged 19 hat-tricks, a record unmatched in international field hockey. But he is not banking on the past.
"I know past records don't count in Olympics, a player is great only when he performs to the best on the hockey
fields," he told AFP.
"Litjens was a great player so it would be nice to overhaul his record but if you compare goal-scoring it was easier in the past."
Pakistan hired Dutch coach Roelant Oltmans after it lost all its field hockey titles, the latest in 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea.
"With Oltmans we have developed quite a few surprises for other teams which we will only try in the Olympics and hope these win us a gold medal," said Abbas.
But the unassuming star knows the severity of the task.
"Every team comes with an aim to win gold so we need to do over 100 percent to win the Olympics and I know my responsibility, which is to score as many goals as possible."
Abbas, the nephew of former Pakistan international Safdar Abbas, emerged as a leading goal-scorer at domestic level in 1996 but was overlooked for two years due to internal politics.
He finally made his entry at the international level against India in the
1998 bilateral series and instantly made his presence felt.
Abbas helped Pakistan win against India in 1998 and 1999. In 2000 he helped Pakistan to play in the Sydney Olympics with 12 goals in the qualifying event in Japan.
Pakistan went out in the semi-finals against South Korea but Abbas finished as second top scorer with eight goals in the 2000 Olympics.
He earned a reputation as a goalchurning machine when he broke two world records -- scoring the most goals in a calendar year (60 in 1999) and the fastest century of goals (two years, six months and 18 days).
"My goals are not mine, they are of the team. At times I don't know how I have scored. Maybe it's because the prayers of the entire nation are behind me."
Coach Oltmans admitted Abbas was the potent weapon but he disagreed that Pakistan's team was a one-man show.
"Abbas is our best player but I rely on all 16 players and if the inspiration comes from one player so be it," Oltmans said.