Malaysia's fate depends on opener

By Ajitpal Singh

MALAYSIA'S hope of advancing beyond the Junior Hockey World Cup groupstage boils down to their opening match against England on June 7 inJohor Baru.
A favourable result is needed against England to boost the team'sconfidence and also give them the edge of advancing to the quarter-finalsfrom Group C, which also consists South Korea, the United States andSpain.
Malaysia's coach K. Rajan, who has been grooming the team since latelast year, is aware that his players need to get into their groove toachieve a good result against England.
A win is, of course, attainable considering that England have named ayoung side with an average age of just below 19, for the tournament. England coach David Ralph included nine players of the England Under-21side that finished fifth in last July's European Junior Nations Championships while another 11 also played for the Great Britain Juniorteam that took bronze in the Australian Youth Olympic Festival in January.
Nick Catlin, at 20, is the most experienced player in the England squadhaving earned two senior caps last year.
Ralph said the Junior World Cup will provide some major challenges forthe squad.
"Not only do we face some of the top 20 junior teams in theWorld but the physical demands of the tournament will be tough as well,"he told www.fihockey.org.
"A gruelling schedule means we face nine games in 14 days and theenvironmental conditions will be unlike any that the players haveexperienced previously," On the team's prospects, Ralph is cautiously optimistic.
"We are a very young squad and we face some tough challenges but we arealso very excited by this prospect and confident that we have someexciting talent within the squad to compete at this level." he added.

England squad: Ben Arnold, James Bailey, David Beckett, Nick Catlin,David Condon, Richie Dawson-Smith, Marc Edwards, Simon Faulkner, ChrisGregg, Chris Griffiths, Ed Kelleher, Johnny Kinder, Sam Middleton, IanScanlon, Alex Edmonstone, Ben Tibble, Henry Weir, Tom Woods.