The best talent is in Kuala Lumpur: Cedric

By Our Special Correspondent

MUMBAI, AUG. 2. The hue and cry in Malaysia over the Indian Hockey Federation's decision to field what is being called an `experimental' team for the Azlan Shah tournament, instead of entering a full-strength national squad, is understandable. After all, the organisers would like all invited sides to live up to the hype about the Kuala Lumpur event as one featuring seven of the world's hockey elite sides. However, as coach Cedric D'Souza points out, India's predicament also has to be understood, as it is the only nation among the seven invited for the Azlan Shah tournament to have been forced to go through the World Cup qualifiers in Edinburgh and then having to decide whether to put the same group of players through another grind a week later in Kuala Lumpur.

``They (Azlan Shah) organisers may have wanted the full Edinburgh squad to play. I can understand their point, but at the moment the first thing is to look at your own goals,'' said Cedric D'Souza in a chat with The Hindu. ``The World Cup qualifiers is the first priority. From this team we had a lot of players who toured Malaysia, New Zealand, Australia. It has been a hard grind for them for the last two-and-a-half months. They need a break after what they went through in the qualifiers. You just can't expect them to go on and on, it is like flogging a dead horse.''

The national coach explained that he put this point across to the IHF and was emphatic about the boys needing a rest. ``From whatever was available, the best talent have been sent to the Azlan Shah. Some of the boys who have played sporadically on the New Zealand tour and some players who did not go to New Zealand but only played the Edinburgh tournament have been pushed into this team now in Kuala Lumpur. Mind you, the players who are in form have been sent, there is no point in sending out of form players for such an event,'' the Indian national coach pointed out.

So goalkeeper Devesh Chauhan, ace defender Dilip Tirkey, Bimal Lakra, S. S. Gill and Daljit Singh Dhillon from the World Cup qualifiers squad have been herded from Edinburgh to Kuala Lumpur where tougher competition await them, the Azlan Shah event arguably the toughest international tournament after the Sydney Olympic hockey competition. Seniors Mukesh Kumar and Sabu Varkey lend a touch of class to the assembled Indian team, coach by Baldev Singh for the Kuala Lumpur tournament, with Cedric D'Souza expected to arrive later as an observer.

Incidentally, the participation in both back-to-back tournaments, at Edinburgh and Kuala Lumpur respectively, have happened when Indian hockey is under the umbrella of Castrol India Limited's sponsorship.

Asked whether the Castrol's sponsorship of the national team makes it binding on the Indian team to make up for the World Cup qualifier struggle by excelling at Azlan Shah, D'Souza felt the sponsor has backed the Indian team basically till 2004.

``It is not a question of fielding the best squad for the World Cup qualifier or any particular tournament. Everything between now and 2004 is what we are looking at, not looking at per se doing well at one tournament and being happy with that. The Olympics 2004 is the ultimate goal. So for this year we had decided on two things - the World Cup qualifier and the Champions Challenge. Winning anything between these two is a stepping stone towards achieving two objectives. We have attained the first one by qualifying for the World Cup. As said earlier, I think the sponsors are looking at a long-term goal, not a short-term one.''

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