Indian Men Hockey team to meet hosts Malaysia tomorrow at the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in the ongoing Sultan Azlan Shah Cup.
New Delhi, 7 April 2015: With one draw and one loss in their kitty, the Indian Men Hockey team is all set to meet hosts Malaysia in the ongoing Sultan Azlan Shah Cup. The team will take the positives of the last two matches as they gear up for the clashes ahead.
Meeting Malaysia tomorrow, the Indian team will be looking at keeping their winning record with them intact, while the 12th seeded Malaysian team will be looking at avenging their past defeats. While Malaysia has lost both its matches against New Zealand and Australia the team will look at opening their winning account tomorrow against the India boys.
The last time both the teams met was during the Hockey World Cup 2014 last year where the Indians dominated the match and beat Malaysia by 3-2. Prior to that the teams had clashed in the Asian Champions Trophy in 2013 and the same year they met during the 9th Asia Cup and both occasions India had beat them convincingly.
Tomorrow's clash is important for India as hereon winning all the matches will help them stay in contention for the top 2 slot on the points table.
Talking on tomorrow's match against Malaysia, Captain Sardar Singh said: “We are not allowing the result of yesterday's match to affect us. We played tough in the entire match, they played better than us in the last five minutes of the game. We will come back stronger tomorrow and in the rest of the matches and aim for wins from hereon as this will help us for the top slot. Though Malaysia will have the home advantage but the fact that we have outwitted them in our last clashes will give us the added boost”.
Speaking on the present team and upcoming series Chief Coach Paul van Ass said: “It is too early in the tournament and I think the team has played good hockey in the last two matches. We dominated the match yesterday against the Black Sticks but I think they bounced back in the last five minutes which changed the results in their favour. We are disappointed but not de-motivated.”
The 24th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup at Malaysia will be played from 5 - 12 April 2015 and six teams will be seen fighting it out for the title. India will play their next game against Malaysia at 15:40 HRS IST on 8 April 2015.
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