Asia Cup : Three places up for grabs in Women’s Junior Asia Cup

Nine teams will compete in the fifth Women’s Junior Asia Cup, which will be held at the Seremban Two Hockey Stadium from Dec 13-21.

The tournament offers three places for Asian teams to the 2009 Women’s Junior World Cup, which will be held in Boston, the United States, from Aug 3-18.

Defending champions China are in Group A with Japan, Malaysia, Thailand and Pakistan while Group B comprises three-time champions South Korea, India, Singapore and Taiwan.

The nine teams have been divided into two groups and the top two from each group will qualify for the semi-finals.

The Women’s Junior Asia Cup, the first international hockey tournament to be staged in Seremban, is organised by the women’s section of the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) and is jointly sponsored by the state government.

Asia is the only region yet to finalise its representatives for the 2009 Women’s Junior World Cup. So far 13 teams have secured their berths, including the United States.

The others who have secured their berths are Argentina, Australia, Belarus, Chile, Egypt, England, Spain, Germany, Lithuania, Holland, New Zealand and South Africa.

South Korea, champions in 1992, 1996 and 2000, are the favourites to claim one of the berths along with China, the winners in 2004.

Japan and India have always slugged it out for third place and will be seen as the biggest threats to Malaysia’s chances of making the cut for their first-ever Junior World Cup.

The Malaysian team will be handled by Yahya Atan, Tai Beng Hai and Mohd Nasihin Nubli and the final 18 will be named on Dec 6.