No Azlan Shah Cup for Indian team

BHUBANESWAR: The Indian hockey team will not take part in the 2020 edition of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Malaysia as it will coincide with their preparation for their away Pro League matches in Germany.

The annual invitational tournament, usually played by six participating teams, will be held in Ipoh from April 11-18. India, however, will play their Pro League games in Berlin on April 25 and 26 before which the Manpreet Singh-led team will also be involved in the camp in Bengaluru from April 6 to 19.

“We will be in Bhubaneswar till the end of February and then we go back to Bengaluru. Then back again here in May. We were going to go for Sultan Azlan Shah Cup but our calendar is pretty full so unfortunately the timing didn’t work out,” said India chief coach Graham Reid. “Also, they changed the dates to April so we had to cancel.”

For the last two years, the tournament was played i n March. The last time India skipped the tournament was in 2014. After Australia, India are the second most successful team at the Malaysian tournament, having won it five times with the last title coming in 2010 when the trophy was shared with South Korea after the final was abandoned due to bad weather.

With Australia withdrawing from competition last year, also due to Pro League, India had a good chance of winning the event. However, they were pipped by South Korea in a penalty shootout (4-2) in the final.

Meanwhile, Malaysia or South Korea, both of whom have not qualified for the Olympics, could visit India for a test series to continue their preparation for Tokyo.