Malaysian coach Murali sees an opportunity to prepare his team for the future. Speaking to s2h from his official hotel Hamshire in Hyderabad, he said that he has selected all the boys for the Junior Asia Cup keeping next year’s World Cup in mind.

“I had three boys who could have played here, meeting the cut off age of 21 for this meet. But I did not bring them because our focus is home world cup and all the 18 players here are age wise eligible to play next year’s mega event.

2009 Junior World Cup will be played in Malaysia and Singapore, with 20 teams in the fray.

On asked about his team’s prospects in the Hyderabad event, he said that back home the expectations are high.

On clarification, he set aside the view that the team will be playing in a relaxed manner as it does not have to qualify for the next world cup, as it has the hosts right to be in that company as co-hosts.

“No. I have the semis as my target here”.

He conceded that the Japanese team is an unknown quantity and his team’s prospects will depend on the match against them.

He mentioned in the course of discussion that the junior programmes in Malaysia is progressing well and that they should be a force to reckon with when the D-day, the world cup comes home.

“Doing well at the home world cup is paramount importance to improve the profile of hockey in Malalysia”