Field hockey competition up for grabs
Posted: Saturday December 05, 1998 02:01 PM
BANGKOK, Thailand (Reuters) -- There is not just gold, but an
automatic place at the Sydney Olympics, waiting for the winner
of the Asian Games hockey tournament starting on Monday.
The Olympic spot has added further spice to what is always
one of the most closely contested and vocal events at the Games.
In a sign of how hockey power has shifted away from the
Subcontinent, South Korea start as favorites for both the men
and women's gold medal.
The defending champions can expect the usual tough challenge
from the Pakistanis, the 1994 silver medallists India and a
resurgent young Malaysian side.
South Korea finished fourth in this year's Champions Trophy
in Pakistan after losing to the winning Australians in a penalty
shootout in a semifinal. Pakistan were the beaten finalists
while India was not good enough to even qualify for the
tournament.
The South Korean's will again be looking for their
aggressive charging play to overcome the subtle play of the
Indians and Pakistanis.
"We want to win the gold because it takes the pressure off
us preparing for the Olympics, it lets us experiment," a South
Korean official said.
The South Koreans are grouped with India, Bangladesh, China
and Singapore.
Compared with South Korea, India's showing since the 1996
Atlanta Olympics has been poor.
They failed to win a medal at September's Commonwealth Games
in Kuala Lumpur and finished a humble ninth in the last World
Cup.
Apart from an Olympic spot, another spur for the Indians in
Bangkok is that it will be the final Asian Games for their
captain Dhanaraj Pillai.
Pakistan, too, have not lived up to their proud hockey
tradition in recent years.
They lost the world title at Utrecht and the Asian Games
title to South Korea at Hiroshima.
Pakistan comes to Bangkok without their captain Mohammad
Usman who injured his ankle in a practice match just before the
team left. He has been replaced by Atif Basher.
Yet few teams can match the Pakistanis when it comes to
resilience and skill. Pakistan are seven times Asian Games gold
medalists and will want to add to this impressive collection.
Pakistan have dropped center-forward Kamaran Ashraf, who was
disappointing in the Champions Trophy and fullback Tariq Imran.
The Malaysian team may be the upset of the tournament as
they arrive with their confidence sky high after winning the
Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games.
But the retirement of experienced players like Nor Saiful
and Ramu Shanker will affect the team's ability to convert
penalty corners.
The Malaysians are in pool a with with Hong Kong (China),
Japan, Pakistan, Srilanka and Thailand.
In the women's event, it is hard to look beyond South Korea,
which has won the gold since 1986.
China and India, which finished 11th and 12th respectively
at Utrecht, along with Japan, should fight for the two other
medals.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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