All eyes on India

S. Thyagarajan

Ipoh: When put on centre-stage in 1983, the international tournament for the Azlan Shah Cup was primarily designed to enhance the contours of continental hockey. So much has happened since then that looking back on the eve of the 18th edition it is difficult to refrain from acknowledging the relevance of the event as the pathway not only for Asia but others as well to scale new peaks in artistic and technical excellence.

The five-nation competition, set for launch on Sunday, is clipped of a wee-bit of its glamour, or even the anticipated intensity, mirroring perhaps the effects of the global meltdown. But it cannot be dismissed as irrelevant, given the importance it holds for the three Asian teams — India, Pakistan and Malaysia, as the testing arena to prepare for the more important Asia Cup in May, the World Cup qualifiers and then to the summit itself in New Delhi early next year.

India figures here as the top entity — being the silver medallist in 2008.

Argentina, the winner, is missing from the line-up this time. After 1995, India has never been on top of the podium, though its players stood twice on it in the last two years, as a bronze medallist in 2007 and as the second placed team last year.

Expectations of an Indian triumph after a hiatus of 14 years cannot be viewed as misplaced or over-optimistic in the current scheme of things. The team has achieved a few significant gains in recent months. More importantly, the opposition here is not tough by any reckoning.

All that India needs is to remain focussed, play with a modicum of consistency and snatch a trophy triumph exemplifying the confidence regained after playing formidable teams like Germany, the Dutch, and the Aussies in recent months.

Penalty corner specialist Sandeep Singh heads a compact pack laced with expertise and experience in all layers. Attention is likely to rivet on Dilip Tirkey.

Even as the statisticians debate whether Dilip is on the threshold of a milestone of 400 caps, or had already crossed it, what is not on dispute now is that this unflappable Adivasi icon is the most capped player in contemporary hockey.

Interest will also be on how well the frontline can combine to ease the pressure on Sandeep Singh and Dilip Tirkey only from converting penalty corners to turn the fortunes.

It is a pity that Raghunath, another lovely striker, had to miss the trip on account of injury days before the departure.

The combination of Prabhjot, Shivendra, Sunil and Halappa will be on test from the push off against Egypt, the first timer here. India beat Egypt 5-1 last in the Afro-Asian Championship at Hyderabad in 2003.

Swathed in an astonishing sequence of controversies since the abominable show at the 2008 Olympiad, the former champion, Pakistan, is struggling to retain its stature as a combination that was once the envy of many. A series of events that triggered unprecedented polemics, displacement of officials and coaches, clearly confirm that Pakistan is at the crossroads. Full back Zeeshan Ahraff returns as captain but the team leans on a set of skilful strikers like Tariq Aziz, Shakeel Abbasi and Shabir Khan. Coach Shahid Ali Khan is confident that this tournament will be a recovery point from the depths of despair.

Plagued by injuries and inconsistent showing in various tournaments that pulled Malaysia to the 15th place in world rankings, the home team is looking ahead for a decent show before the Asia Cup, which it hosts at Kuantan in May. The team will miss the penalty striker, Zulkifli, owing to injury but coach Tai Beng Hai is keen to preserve his trump card for the Asia Cup. A lot depends on Ismail Abu and the seasoned Chua Boon Hua, but it is clear that the Malaysian team is more bent on having a tilt at the Asia Cup to secure an automatic place in the next World Cup.

Quite predictably, New Zealand fields a development team inducting two youngsters Arun Panchia and Isaac Staples, who will learn a lot of tricks from the Olympians Kyle Pontifex, Blair Hopping, Dave Kosoof and Ben Collier. No team in recent years has shown such a level of consistency as the Kiwis. Egypt makes its debut in the competition and is reckoned as an unpredictable opponent.

When the ball rolls on Sunday afternoon, the guessing game would have begun.

Sunday’s matches: India v Egypt (2-30 p.m. IST); Pakistan v Malaysia (4-30 p.m.).