Award the right tonic for Kumar ahead of Asia Cup

Goalkeeper S. Kumar is having a great run in international hockey tournaments.

He was voted the best goalkeeper for the fifth time in two years at the recent Sultan Azlan Shah Cup tournament in Ipoh where Malaysia finished as the runners-up.

Kumar first won the award in the same tournament in May 2007 and three months later, he also came out tops in the Asia Cup in India. Last year, he won the award at the Olympic qualifiers in Japan in April and at the four-nation Hamburg Masters in October.

The 30-year-old from Tampin, who made his international debut in a four-nation tournament in Australia in 2003 and now has 125 international caps to his credit, said: “I believe that I am the only national goalkeeper to hold such a record.

“It is definitely a big boost ahead of the Asia Cup (in Kuantan from May 9-16).”

Kumar admitted that the task in the Asia Cup would be tough indeed.

“The odds are stacked against us to win the tournament and get the automatic berth to the World Cup Finals in New Delhi next year,” he said.

“Nothing is impossible to achieve if we give our best. We have beaten teams like South Korea and Japan before and we can do it again.”

The Asia Cup offers the champions a direct entry to the Finals and the next four teams will go into three qualifying tournaments in November.

Malaysia are in Group A with South Korea, Japan and Oman while Group B comprises defending champions India, Pakistan, China and Bangladesh.

Malaysia chalked up creditable results in the Sultan Azlan tournament, which ended last Sunday. They defeated Pakistan (3-2) and Egypt (4-1); drew 1-1 with New Zealand; and were beaten twice by India — 0-3 in the round-robin match and 1-3 in the final.

The team will resume training today in Bukit Jalil and will move camp to Kuantan at the end of the month.