Azlan Shah Cup in danger

06/06/2002

THE Azlan Shah Cup is in danger of being postponed because most of the
teams invited have yet to confirm their entries.
Initially scheduled to be held in Ipoh on Sept 15-22, the meet was
brought forward to July 7-15.
But yesterday, Malaysian Hockey Federation secretary S. Satgunam
revealed that response has been lukewarm.
"We invited Argentina, Spain, Germany, South Korea and Holland. But so
far, only Korea has said that they are interested in the tournament while
Germany has replied to the negative," said Satgunam.
"We have received an appeal from Japan to be included in the Azlan Shah
Cup, but we have yet to decide on that."
Argentina, Spain, Germany and Malaysia will be taking part in the German
Masters which begins later this month and that is one of the reasons for
the setback.
"If we do not get enough entries, we will have to postpone the Azlan
Shah Cup to a later date because we want to maintain quality in the
tournament, and not just invite any team to fill up the vacuum," said
Satgunam.
Pakistan were among the teams which were slighted at not being invited
to the increasingly popular Azlan Shah Cup which normally features quality
teams on par with the Champions Trophy.
Meanwhile the grapevine has it that India will be playing in the
Manchester Commonwealth Games in place of Jamaica.
Satgunam also revealed yesterday that Mej Jagjet Singh from RAMD has
been suspended for six months by the MHF Disciplinary Board.
"The MHFDB found enough evidence to suspend Jagjet for six months but we
will meet again to deliberate on RAMD player Shukur Hassan's case," said
Satgunam.
Shukur kicked and punched umpire B. Shaji in the last League match
between Navy and RAMD on May 19. But he failed to turn up and face the
MHFDB when called.
"Shaji did not attend as he was in India and since both parties were not
around, the MHFDB have decided to meet again at a later date to discuss
the issue."
Germany has replied to the negative," said Satgunam.
"We have received an appeal from Japan to be included in the Azlan Shah
Cup, but we have yet to decide on that."
Argentina, Spain, Germany and Malaysia will be taking part in the German
Masters which begins later this month and that is one of the reasons for
the setback.
"If we do not get enough entries, we will have to postpone the Azlan
Shah Cup to a later date because we want to maintain quality in the
tournament, and not just invite any team to fill up the vacuum," said
Satgunam.
Pakistan were among the teams which were slighted at not being invited
to the increasingly popular Azlan Shah Cup which normally features quality
teams on par with the Champions Trophy.
Meanwhile the grapevine has it that India will be playing in the
Manchester Commonwealth Games in place of Jamaica.
Satgunam also revealed yesterday that Mej Jagjet Singh from RAMD has
been suspended for six months by the MHF Disciplinary Board.
"The MHFDB found enough evidence to suspend Jagjet for six months but we
will meet again to deliberate on RAMD player Shukur Hassan's case," said
Satgunam.
Shukur kicked and punched umpire B. Shaji in the last League match
between Navy and RAMD on May 19. But he failed to turn up and face the
MHFDB when called.
"Shaji did not attend as he was in India and since both parties were not
around, the MHFDB have decided to meet again at a later date to discuss
the issue."
(END)