Malaysia hockey coach wary of depleted, yet dangerous India

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

Melbourne, Mar 14 (UNI) Indian hockey team maybe missing three dependable defenders but Malaysia coach Wallace Tan insists his side would be pitted against a formidable squad when they kick-off their pool campaign on Friday.

Regulars Harpal Singh is ruled out of the Games with chickenpox while injured Dilip Tirkey will also be missing. Sandeep Singh and Kanwalpreet Singh are India's only recognised defenders and the side has sought William Xalxo as a replacement for Harpal Singh.

Still not ready to underestimate the Indians, the former Malaysian international told UNI, ''It doesn't matter who they select.

India are always a handful to content with.'' ''India are an attacking side and even if they don't have all their best defenders, they can still hurt teams. On their day, India can beat the best teams in the world. So our job is to make sure our players do their best and not give the Indians too much room to hurt us.'' Malaysia had beaten India in the 1998 Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games to claim the bronze.

Apart from Malaysia and India, other teams in Group B are Pakistan, South Africa and Trinidad and Tobago.

Group A consists of Australia, New Zealand, England, Canada and Scotland.

Meanwhile, team manager Nur Azmi Ahmad confirmed that 1998 Commonwealth Games hero Roslan Jamaluddin has been dropped from team.

The goalkeeper has suffered a dip in form and was not in the initial list of 16 selected for the Games.

He, however, was brought to Perth where Malaysia played and lost two friendly matches to Australia.

Unfortunately for Roslan, he failed to impress in those two matches and was unable to dislodge Nasihin Nubli Rahim and S Kumar as the men between the posts.

Malaysia team: Azlan Misron, Chua Boon Huat, Ismail Abu, Jiwa Mohan, Keevan Raj, S Kuhan, S Kumar, Logan Raj, Megat Azrafiq Megat Termizi, Jivan Mohan, Mohd Madzli Ikmar, Nasihin Nubli Ibrahim, Mohd Rodhanizam Mat Radzi, Amin Rahim, Nor Azlan Bakar, Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin Tengku Abdul Jalil.

UNI HSB AY BST1750

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