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We are precisely just five days away from the beginning of the 20th Sultan Azlan Shah Tournament- something that has really been on Harendra Singh’s mind. The Indian Hockey coach has been preparing his side for a very key tournament that sees different teams with different aims and aspirations. The likes of Great Britain and Australia have already qualified for the Olympics while India are still having problems digesting the fact that they lost out on a Top 2 finish at last year’s Asian Games, something that would have guaranteed them a spot in next year’s London Olympic Games.
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But strangely enough, Arjun Halappa and his troop will be heading to Malaysia, knowing that it was this nation that halted their dreams in Guangzhou last year. Nevertheless, Harendra Singh is absolutely optimistic ahead their upcoming journey that begins in Ipoh and could very well end with a successful spot in next year’s Olympic Games.
“The Azlan Shah tournament has always been a starting point for major teams preparing for the Olympics or the World Cup. The difference this time is that, other than Australia (since they have almost seven of their first-team players in the European league), everyone else will be at full strength, since the Olympics are so near. That makes competition this time much more tough.
“On one hand, yes, it will be tough. On the other hand, we have to remember that we are without at least 5-6 of our own first-eleven. So it will be a testing ground for us as well. But while most of the others have already qualified for Olympics, we are yet to do so, therefore the objectives for the teams will be different,” he said.
Speaking about absentee’s in players, India will have to deal throughout this tournament at Ipoh without their most influential defender, Sardara Singh. Not only that, Harendra will also be without Rajpal Singh and Tushar Kandekar. However, Harendra was quick to reiterate that tournaments like the upcoming Sultan Azlan Shah Cup basically offers him a chance to experiment with the vast pool of talent under him.
Players like SV Sunil, Sarwanjeet Singh and Roshan Minz will all be closely monitored after having not played in a major competition for over a year and Harendra hinted that he expects to see some good performances from that trio.
“It’s not like they lack experience or are new. But yes, they are returning from rehabilitation and it’s a good thing they took so long because they are now completely fit. I won’t say this will be a test for them but their good performance will add to our pool.
Per contra, Harendra’s men will be going all out for another successful campaign of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup having won the competition for the past two years although last year saw them being named as joint champions with South Korea.
