NEW DELHI, 3 January 2003 — India’s hockey officials risked the wrath of their Malaysian counterparts yesterday by naming an experimental team for next week’s Azlan Shah tournament in Kuala Lumpur.
The Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) had last month reluctantly agreed to India’s request to rest some key players for the seven-nation invitation tournament from Jan. 8-18.
But it is not expected to take kindly to the 18-man squad named by India, which includes just five regular internationals and is missing key stars like Gagan Ajit Singh, Dilip Tirkey, Devesh Chauhan and Deepak Thakur. The five senior players in the squad are veteran Dhanraj Pillay, Baljit Singh Dhillon, Ignace Tirkey, Vikram Pillay and Sandeep Michael.
Two others, Len Aiyappa and Arjun Halappa, played in the Afro-Asian Games in November, but the remaining members of the Malaysian-bound squad are untested rookies. World champions Germany, Australia, holders Pakistan, South Korea, Spain and hosts Malaysia are the other teams taking part in what is regarded as an important build-up for the Athens Olympics.
The MHF had earlier threatened to scratch a depleted Indian team, usually a big draw in hockey-crazy Malaysia, saying a second-string team would devalue the annual tournament. The Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) insisted it is testing the bench strength by rotating its pool of players ahead of the Olympic qualifiers in Madrid in March.
“The experiments, to blend new faces and experience, will continue for some more time,” IHF chief Kunwar Pratap Singh Gill said.
