Paul Lissek may not be as pompous as the other coaches but the
German who coached his country to men’s Olympic gold was as
passionate as ever.
He is here as the coach of South Korean team as he has taken over the job of rebuilding their national men’s team.
Speaking before the opening day’s encounter against Malaysia, Paul Lissek said that
he is only four-weeks old and needs a little longer time to build a
team to confidently say that it can match the best in the world.
“Korea is a strong side in Asia, and am happy to be associated with them, and am learning many things there afresh”, the German said
Only two teams have brought full strength teams here: the hosts Malaysia and Korea.
Korea might have been pipped in the opening match but the coach says
they have a “wealth of experience and is the team to watch. They are
dark horses here,” Lissek said.
“I am not making any sudden or too many changes in the composition and style of play. I am working with the coaches who are with the team for long. The Asians have their
pattern and style of play which is effective against teams playing in
a similar style. That the boys are hard working and willing to take
that extra grind has helped,” he said.
On the opening days’ last match, Korea went down 3-2 to Malaysia.
Paul Lissek for long resided in Malaysia, and served Malaysian hockey first as its senior team coach, and then as consultant.
Paul was the coach when Malaysia won the Asian Games bronze and Commonwealth Games Silver i the late 90s.