Tropical weather confronts India at Azlan Shah Cup hockey

Bracing for a sequence of

afternoon fixtures in the 26th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup that

starts tomorrow, the Indian team was today welcomed at the

stadium by torrential showers that have brought in a new

dimension to the hockey event.

The tropical weather is expected to bother Great Britain

more than the Indians in tomorrow's afternoon encounter, but

the seasonal monsoon showers that have been coming down with

intense force every afternoon has left India coach Roelant

Oltmans worried.

"Four of our five matches in the round-robin league are

scheduled in the afternoon. I hope the rain does not spoil out

games," said Oltmans about the weather conditions that are a

bother for the organisers, who in 2010 had to declare India

and South Korea as joint champions due to flooding of the

pitch on the day of the final.

More than the daily showers, it's the accompanying

lightening that has become an issue of discussion between the

tournament director and the organisers.

When lightening occurs, hockey match being played on

synthetic turfs are suspended midway to avert any danger to

players and match officials on the pitch.

Both India and Great Britain teams are using the training

time to get acclimatised to the hot and humid afternoon

weather.

Oltmans said that his team was well acclimatised after

arriving a few days ago, but British coach Bobby Crutchley

felt his side could have benefited from some more days in the

tropical conditions.

"Several of the boys played in our club finals back home

last weekend. As a team, we could not have come earlier," said

Crutchley, a former Great Britain player himself who played in

Ipoh as a junior international.

"We've come from typical English conditions, which are

quite different from the hot and humid weather here. But the

boys are fit and in good nick. They've trained in the

afternoon and got to be able to cope with the conditions."

Great Britain's joint captains Phil Roper and Ian Sloan

emphasised that the team expected these weather conditions.

"We did a bit of heat exposure work back home," said

Roper, while Sloan said the British squad had the physical

ability to overcome the weather conditions.

After their poor show in the 2016 Olympic Games, where

Great Britain failed to make the quarterfinals, Crutchley is

under pressure to produce some good results before London

plays hosts to the World League Semifinals in June.

India coach Oltmans said his side needed a last-minute

change before departing from its training camp at Bangalore as

captain P R Sreejesh's understudy goalkeeper Suraj Karkera got

injured and had to be replaced by Akash Chikte.

India are looking to carry the adrenalin rush of the

Junior World Cup through the injection of six members from

that team into the squad for the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup.

Oltmans said India's objectives right now were to rebuild

a side with the focus on both the 2018 World Cup and the 2020

Olympics.

"We need to provide the right exposure to our junior

player with the focus on building the team for the World Cup

next year and Olympic in 2020," said Oltmans.

"The young boys are enthused. They need to get accustomed

to the team's need of structure."

Among the three newcomers to the senior India team is

Sumit, the most talked about youngster who can easily switch

from his midfield position to that of a striker, or fall back

to bolster the defence.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)