Monday, May 17, 2010

Azlan Shah Cup 2010 - My analysis

After seeing Hockey World Cup 2010 and the level International Hockey has attained, it feels a little boring to know there is a tournament - Sultan Azlan Shah Cup going on in Ipoh, Malaysia - where teams like Australia, Korea, Pakistan and India haven't fielded their full bench strength.


But life has to go on and World Cup got over more than 2 months back.

Some people may say that Azlan Shah Cup has more or less been a B-grade tournament where the best teams of the World - if at all they show up - field their development teams.

If India would have lost, critics would have claimed, 'Oh! It's just another nail in the coffin.' Had they won by beating Korea, it would have been, "Come on, this is expected. What’s so great about it?"

Well, I am neither a critic nor a person who has a huge baggage of expectations from the team.

For me, if it’s a decently contested game, where India earns a victory or looses by putting up a valiant effort is a moment of celebration and treat.

All said and done, due to heavy rains, the final couldn't be conducted and the Azlan Shah Cup 2010 was shared between India and Korea.

I am very positive that millions of fans of Indian Hockey wouldn't have been happy with this. We all wanted to the cup totally to ourselves and not shared with the Koreans! :)

Apart from the good show put up by the Indian team in this tournament - leave aside Development team topic for a moment - there are couple of points I wish to remark are:

1) Malaysia is a country which has Equatorial climate; one where there is a 4 'o clock rain every day. Shouldn't Azlan Shah Cup organizers apprehended this situation before and must have marked another day to complete the finals?

2) I read, from http://stick2hockey.com LIVE Commentary section, that Indian team management lodged an official complaint with the tournament director that since they ranked first in the pool, they should have been given the cup. Unfortunately, I find this short-sightedness of Indian management. I am sad to remark that this sounds very opportunistic on our part and also we must have thought about much before the tournament started rather when Rain Gods are greeting and giving mass hugs at the stadium.

Coming back to the performance of the Indian team, one has to praise the winning streak of India. First a draw with China, followed by victories over Pakistan, Korea and Australia was good news for all the fans. Losing to Malaysia was certainly not gonna well with a lot of people. India experimented quite a bit in that match – the coaches had planned this - and Malaysia beat Malaysia convincingly 5-2.

With Korea, Australia and Malaysia tied at the top, it finally came to the last match, where if India’s lose or draw would have been the biggest disappointment. Finally, India beat Egypt to claim the 1st spot in the pool thereby setting up a final with Korea. So, all in all, it has been a decent performance for the Indian team.


Few other points:

1) It has been reported that Jose Brasa was told by the Indian Government (read SAI officials) not to be present at the compulsory Press meet after every match that India plays. A professional person, he adhered to what was told by his bosses. So, one never got to know, what Brasa was thinking all through the tournament. Looks like Hockey India's media phobia is gonna be a chronic one.

2) None of the matches being broadcasted LIVE was another disappointment on this tour of India.

All said and done, I am happy to hear that India holds the Azlan Shah Cup 2010 (shared with Korea) but I also believe there is a need of tours to the 1st 5 countries of the World. It's jubilation time and every victory has its own importance so let's relax for a while and enjoy!

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