May 05, 2007	Saturday	Rabi-us-Sani 17, 1428

IPOH (Malaysia), May 4: World number two Australia start as favourites for the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup starting here from Saturday, also bringing together former champions Pakistan, South Korea and India.

Australia have been the most successful team at the tournament, winning in 1983, 1998, 2004 and 2005, and are the highest-ranked outfit in Ipoh.

The 2004 Olympic champions and runners-up at the World Cup in Germany last year, are like other teams, looking to expose their younger players ahead of the Beijing Olympics.

Australia have included one uncapped player in Fergus Kavanagh, and four others with less than eight international caps in their ranks – Edward Ockenden (8), Daniel Mcpherson (3), Kiel Brown (4) and Desmond Abbott (2).

Australian coach Barry Dancer said the tournament offered them a good chance to gauge the young brigade who will be staking a claim for the Olympics team.

“This tournament has always provided a high-class field and the competition offers teams the best chance to expose their players,” Dancer said. “It is also another chance for us to look at the teams that will finally play in Beijing and this early assessment will greatly benefit us as well as them.”

The Australians are in Group A, along with three-time winners India, Argentina and debutants China.

Pakistan, who have also won three times, head Group B with one-time winners South Korea, Malaysia and Canada.

As former champions, South Korea, Pakistan and India will certainly be seen as potential winners, or at least capable of giving Australia fight for the title.

But with each team testing new players, Malaysia, China, Argentina and Canada cannot be ruled out of the equation.

Eight-time Olympic champions India have brought six rookies, and with a new coach Joaquim Carvalho at the helm there are concerns over their ability to challenge for the honours.

Missing are star players like Dilip Tirkey, Gagan Ajit Singh and Sandeep Singh, although the return of William Xalco, Bimal Lakra and Ignatious Tirkey should provide some relief in defence.

Pakistan are another giants who have come crashing down hard in recent years. Their semi-final defeat at the hands of China in the Doha Asian Games last year was a low point in their hockey history, from which they have yet to recover.

They too have changed coach, with former Olympian Islahuddin Siddiqui taking over from Shahnaz Sheikh.

Islahuddin has been tasked with taking Pakistan back into the elite grouping in the world order at the Beijing Olympics.

“The team is going through a rebuilding process and it is difficult at this stage to comment on their performance,” said Pakistan captain Rehan Butt. “But we have worked tremendously hard for the last 24 days at the camp and we will give our best in Ipoh.” —AFP