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Sultan Azlan Shah Cup 2017: India eye title win after 7 years

 


As India gears up to take part in the 26th Edition of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, one thing is for certain and that is the men in blue will surely look to go one step ahead from their result last season. Five-time winners of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, India are the second highest-ranked team in the tournament.



The Indian team has had decent outings in their last tournaments and would be looking forward to continue their form in this one too. However, for all the progress that India has made over the past couple of years, they haven’t won enough trophies. This is exactly why coach Roelant Oltmans stressed on winning and not ‘losing beautifully’. Oltmans will also be looking at the players’ performances closely to see which of them can lead India’s charge at the World Cup next year.



It’s been seven years since India last lifted the trophy but there has been considerable and slow improvement since then. India have cimbed up the ranking and also won the Champions Trophy silver as well as the junior World Cup last year. 




Six of those junior World Cup winners have found their place in the squad. Junior World Cup captain Harjeet Singh and last season’s hero Harmanpreet Singh will be hoping to have a good outing and lead the charge of their side.




For experience, India will have PR Sreejesh on goal, Chinglensana Singh and Manpreet Singh Sr in the midfield. Meanwhile, while SV Sunil and Akashdeep Singh will hold the strings of the forward-line




India are set to take on Great Britain in the first match of the Azlan Shah Cup 2017. The six teams that are participating in this competition are Malaysia, New Zealand, Australia, India, Great Britain and Japan. Pakistan are not playing in this edition of the Azlan Shah Cup.




Nine-time champions Australia will be India’s chief rivals in the bid to win the title.




Source:IndianExpress
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