KUALA LUMPUR: It couldn’t get any tougher for Malaysia in the Hockey World Cup, which will be held in The Hague, Holland, from May 31-June 15.
Malaysia, the lowest ranked team at No. 13, have been drawn with three of the top five teams in the world – world No. 1 and defending champions Australia, No. 4 England and No. 5 Belgium – in Group A. The other teams in the group are India (No. 8) and Spain (No. 10).
Second seeds Germany head Group B and they will have Holland, New Zealand, South Korea, Argentina and South Africa for company.
The International Hockey Federation (FIH) released the draw yesterday following the completion of the World Hockey League Finals in New Delhi on Sunday, which Holland won.
The groupings for the Hockey World Cup are based on the current FIH world rankings, which have been updated to include the points earned by the teams who competed in the New Delhi tournament.
The results have triggered some changes to the rankings, with Australia re-taking the No. 1 spot from Germany, who had been top since their gold medal-performance at the London Olympics in 2012.
This will be Malaysia’s first outing in the World Cup since hosting the tournament in 2002. Malaysia failed the get past the qualifying stages for the 2006 and 2010 editions.
Newly-appointed national chief coach K. Dharmaraj said that there is no need to worry about the grouping although Malaysia are the lowest ranked team in the fray.
“What is important is that we prepare well for the tournament and take it one step at a time. It will be a bonus for us if we win any of the matches along the way. We have been out of the World Cup for two editions and are the lowest ranked team,” he said.
“Frankly, the draw really doesn’t matter. It will be tough whichever group we are in.”
Malaysia qualified for the World Cup by finishing fifth in the World Hockey League semi-finals in Johor Baru last year.
Dharmaraj said that he is more preoccupied with the two upcoming asignments – the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Ipoh (March) and the FIH Champions Challenge I in Kuantan (April).
“Our focus for now is on these two assignments. I will think about the World Cup after that. But, of course, our preparations are with the World Cup in mind. But we should not be unduly worried about it just yet,” he added.
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