The 17th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup kicks off in Ipoh today. It concludes on May 18.
Defending champions Australia are not participating in the tournament.
Malaysia, of course are the hosts, and will be keen to prove a point after failing to qualify for the Beijing Olympics. The other teams taking part in the tournament are :-
Canada
Belgium
Argentina
Pakistan
India
New Zealand
Pakistan, New Zealand, Belgium and Canada have all qualified for the Olympics.
Malaysia will be without skipper Shanmugham Kuhan, Mohd Shahrun Nabil and Mohd Razie Abdul Rehman.
There are wholesale changes in the Indian side, after the Asians failed to make it to the Olympics for the first time in eighty years. They also performed poorly in the four nations tournament in Australia, and an Indian T.V. channel ran an operation that claimed that the hockey federation secretary allegedly demanded money for selecting players.
No Prabhjot Singh, Tushar Khandekar, William Xalco, Samir Baxla, Baljit Singh and Ignace Turkey in the Indian lineup.
The schedule for the tournament can be seen here.
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Adnan said
I watched the match between Pakistan and Malaysia on 08/05/2008.
Wonderful crowd and good game. Malaysia played excellent game and fought until the last second.
Pakistan, did not play as good as it was expected. Abbasi and Rehan Butt played excellent hockey but rest of the team had its ups and down during the whole match. Certainly Pakistan needs to work on physical fitness and penalty corner routines.
I was little surprised to see that turf was not waters properly and it got very dry after the first half. Referees’ stopped the game to water the ground. It could be done during the half break.
It was great to see such a big crowd and a good game.