Baljit has to fight for his spot...

NATIONAL chief coach Paul Revington named 16 players for the Azlan Shah Cup on March 9-17, and conspicuously missing was defender Baljit Singh.
   However the defender, together with Amin Rahim and striker Ismail Abu will get a second chance to prove their worth when Revington pits his men against defending champions New Zealand on March 3 and 4 in Malacca.
    “I have only picked 16 players while two more will be included after the New Zealand friendlies in Malacca. The battle for spots is so intense that some of the regulars like Baljit and Amin will have to fight back for their positions,” said Revington.
   Hosts Malaysia will be up against India, Pakistan, South Korea, Australia and defending champions New Zealand in the 22nd Edition which might just turn out to be another nightmarish tournament for Malaysia.
   For the record, Malaysia were sixth out of seven teams in the last edition when we lost 3-2 to South Korea in the fifth-sixth placing match, while in 2011 the occupied the bottom spot in the seven-team tournament.
   The fixtures will see Malaysia play South Korea in the opening match, and the most recent result does not favour Malaysia.
    Malaysia beat Korea 4-2 in the group stages of the Champions Challenge I in Argentina in December last year, but received a 6-3 drubbing from the Koreans in the semi-finals.
    “I know I have said this many times before, but the target is still to improve in each match by going for a win. We need to keep doing this to improve our standings against much higher ranked sides which will assemble in Ipoh again,” said Revington.
   Australia are the raging favourites to clinch their seventh Azlan Shah Cup title when the dust settles in Ipoh, but nobody expects Revington’s charges to sink to the bottom again as Malaysia prepare for the World Hockey League and the Asia Cup which offers tickets to the World Cup in Netherlands next year.
   MALAYSIA: S. Kumar (gk), Roslan Jamaluddin (gk), Razie Rahim, Azlan Misron, Jivan Mohan, Faisal Saari, Faiz Helmi, Chua Boon Huat, Sukri Mutalib, Izad Hakimi, Fitri Saari, Shahrun Nabil, Azammi Adabi, Marhan Jalil, Nabil Fiqri, Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin.