2010: India-Korea joint champs.THE last two consecutive Azlan Shah Cup champion India and Asian Games gold medallists Pakistan will send diluted teams for the tournament which will be held in Ipoh on May 5-15.
India said they are sending their best available, as Tushar Khandekar and the former skipper Rajpal Singh are injured, while Sardara Singh and Sandeep Singh. were disqualified because they did not attend training camp in Delhi, but played in Belgium instead.
As for Pakistan, three players who are in the training camp for the Azlan Shah have been issued show-cause letters because they are said to have signed deals with the planned World Series of Hockey in India.
The World Series of Hockey is not sanctioned by the International Hockey Federation, who have warned their affiliates not to allow their players to compete in the tour nament.
“The PHF executive council took a very clear decision recently that since the WSH is not sanctioned by the In ternational Hockey Federation or its affiliated units it will not be recognized by us.
“As per the council's decision we have asked Butt, Wasim and Abbasi to explain if they have any contracts with the WSH and if so are they willing to break this association with the organizers of the unsanctioned event,” said PHF secretary, Asif Bajwa to The Times of India.
Bajwa, himself a former Olympian, made it clear that if the three top players didn’t clarify their positions they would not be selected for the Azlan Shah tournament, the squad for which will be announced on April 28th.
Butt, Wasim and Abbasi were members of the Pakistan team that won the Asian Games gold medal for the first time in 20 years last year in China.
Bajwa also said that if any player was found having ties with the unsanctioned World Hockey Series he would have nothing more to do with Pakistan hockey.
Bajwa said they also have reports about some other players having entered into agreements with the WHS organisers including Pakistan’s Asian games captain Zeeshan Ashraf and former Olympian Mohammad Saqlain.
Zeeshan pulled out of the Azlan Shah Cup on personal grounds and is not attending the training camp.
India beat Malaysia to the gold in 2009, while they were declared as joint champions with South Korea in the 2010 edition, which was rained-off.
The other teams in the tournament are Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain and South Korea.
