The Malaysian juniors, South Korea and Argentina trained at the tournament venue yesterday, and according to juniors coach K. Dharmaraj, conditions at present are playable.
“While travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Johor Baru con ditions along the highway were bad a few days back, but when we reached Taman Daya, there was hardly any haze and we got a chance to play a friendly against the Argentina side (on Sunday),” said Dharmaraj who is preparing his team for the Junior World Cup in India in December.
The Malaysian juniors got a chance of their life-time, as many teams will be using them to spar in the run-up to the World League.
“Even though we lost 3-1 to Argentina, the Argies did not look too impressive but maybe it is because of jet-lag and acclimatisation. We will be playing a friendly against South Korea next and then Japan which is a fantastic opportunity for my charges to toughen themselves ahead of New Delhi,” said Dharmaraj.
Organising secretary Manjit Majid Abdullah said there was heavy rain in Pasir Gudang, and a drizzle in Taman Daya and the forecast for the next few days looks good.
“I spoke to the tournament director (Bjorn Isberg of Sweden) and we have a contingency plan in place. If the haze disrupt any match, we have three rest days and can utilise them.
“Also, the conditions around Kuala Lumpur and Kuantan are worse off than Johor Baru, and moving the tournament is not feasible at the moment,” said Manjit.
Yesterday, a total of RM640,000 was handed over by sponsors to the Johor Hockey Association in a simple cer emony that marks the countdown of an event where three more teams will qualify for the 2014 World Cup in Holland.
Present to receive the sponsorship was Johor State Ex ecutive Councillar for Youth and Sports Datuk Zulkarnain Kamisan. Also present was JHA President Jais Sardy and Malaysian Hockey Confederation vice president M. Gob inathan.
Eight teams will compete in Johor Baru on June 29-July 7. Group A comprises of Germany, South Korea, Argentina and Japan while Group B has England, Pakistan, South Africa and Malaysia.
A total of 12 teams will play in the 2014 World Cup where hosts Netherlands are automatic qualifiers while Belgium and Australia qualified after finishing one-two respectively in another World League Semi-finals which ended at the The Hague on Sunday.
