India to skip Sultan Azlan Shah Cup to concentrate on World Cup preparation

Indian coach Terry Walsh with the players during training

The Indian Hockey team will not be participating in the 23rd Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, which is scheduled to be held in Ipoh, Malaysia between 13th-23rd march 2014. The Indian team will be preparing for the World Cup scheduled to be held in The Hague, Netherlands, from May 31st to June 15th .The weather in Hague remains much cooler then the tropical weather in Malaysia.

India had won the Azlan Shah Cup in 1985, 1991, 1995, 2009, and 2010.

Hockey India (HI) secretary general Narinder Batra said on Friday “India will not participate at the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup. Our high performance director Roelant Oltmans and chief coach Terry Walsh have decided that we need to prepare keeping the World Cup in mind”.

He further added “Our team will be playing a tournament in Europe as a build up for the World Cup. Our players need to acclimatize to the European conditions before the World Cup starts. Keeping these factors in mind, we decided not to send the team to Malaysia.”

Till date the confirmation of participation have been received only from four countries viz Australia, South Korea, Canada and France, apart from Malaysia who will play as the hosts.