Coach Sarjit cool over having Germany in Olympic qualifiers

The Malaysian men’s hockey team face a mammoth task in qualifying for next year’s Beijing Olympics, having been drawn with world champions Germany in the men’s qualifying tournament in Kakamigahara, Japan, from April 5-13 next year.

The other teams in the fray are Japan, the Czech Republic, Poland and Switzerland. Only the champions will qualify for Beijing.

National coach Sarjit Singh, however, is unperturbed by world number two Germany’s presence.

“Germany were favourites to beat Belgium in the third playoff in the European Championships last month to qualify for the Olympics. But Belgium surprised Germany to qualify for the Olympics.

“Our mission in Japan is to qualify for the final and we will go all out to achieve it. In the final anything can happen,” said Sarjit. “The players are in high spirits after winning their first-ever bronze in the Asia Cup in Chennai last week. We are leaving no stone unturned in our quest to give our best in the qualifiers.”

Meanwhile, eight-time Olympic champions India are drawn with Britain, Austria, Bangladesh, Chile, and Egypt in the qualifiers in Santiago, Chile, from March 1-9.

The third qualifying tournament is in Auckland from Feb 2-10. It will feature Argentina, Cuba, France, Ireland, New Zealand and Trinidad and Tobago.

The winners of the three qualifiers will join the nine teams who have already assured their place in the 12-nation Olympic competition.