KUALA LUMPUR: The national hockey squad will be facing a tough assignment ahead during the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup scheduled to take place from March 3 to 11 as they will go up against five teams who are the world’s top ten.
It begins with the best team in the world, Australia who are world No 1, followed by 2016 Rio Olympics gold medallist Argentina who are second in the world rankings.
Asian giants and Asia Cup champions India who are ranked sixth in the world, along with England (7) and Ireland (10) complete the list of the top teams that will be competing in the tournament.
Looking at the status and rankings of the five teams, it is obvious that Stephen Van Huizen’s team who are world No 12, need to work very hard to avoid an early exit and poor showing at their first international tournament next year, which is on home soil.
However, Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) technical director, Terry Walsh sees the presence of such top teams as the best chance for the Malaysian Tigers to measure their abilities and to finish strongly for a good showing.
“Based on the rankings of the teams competing, Malaysia are seeded sixth and next year’s Sultan Azlan Shah Cup will be a stern test and measure for the national team.
"Apart from this, it will also be a challenge for the national team to post their strongest finish possible.
"This tournament features four teams from outside Asia taking part and MHC sees this as a good form of preparation for the national team ahead of the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games which takes place from April 4 to 15.
"This is because the players will be facing very stiff competition and they will need to up their game to a much higher level,” he said.
Walsh also hopes that the tournament will make the national team improve on their performance and showing ahead of another important Games, the Asian Games in Indonesia come August next year, which offers a coveted automatic ticket to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics for the team that wins the gold medal.