Pakistan out of Azlan Shah Hockey Cup

KARACHI: Pakistan withdrew from the seven-team Azlan Shah Hockey Cup to be held in Malaysia next month.

The Pakistan Hockey Federation notified it to the Malaysian Hockey Confederation who kept the news to themselves until NewStraits Times journalist Jugjet Singh managed to get the official word from the national body late Saturday.

The 23rd edition of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup is fast becoming a sham no thanks to poor planning by the Organising Committee.

The whole tournament had lost its glitter, turning from a classy A-level event to a C-grade event following the decision by top teams to give the event a miss.

It all boils down to a poor choice of dates by the overzealous organisers who clearly lacked the ability to convince teams to come with some forward thinking.

Even former national coach Paul Revington was baffled by the choice of dates for this years event given the fact that the Champions Challenge was slated for April 26 to May 4 and the World Cup in The Hague slated for May 31 till June 15.

Revington had requested, prior to resigning, to hold the tournament in February as that would have allowed to European sides like Germany, Holland, Belgium, England and Spain to be available. But all he got was a curt replay that the Sultan was not agreeable.

Thus the 23rd edition has lost its glitter as teams like Argentina, New Zealand, India, Belgium - all declined the invites and Australia will surely field the developmental squad.