MALAYSIA must play in the final of the Azlan Shah Cup on April 11-18th in Ipoh.
That is the target set by the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC), which is also the key performance index of national coach Roelant Oltmans.
It, however, will not be an impossible task as the FIH ProLeague has tied down the top teams leaving Malaysia to battle Australia, Canada, Japan, South Korea and Pakistan for the crown.
India, who are normally a permanent feature in the tournament, will not see action this year as they will be focusing on their back-to-back matches against Germany on April 25 and 26 in Berlin.
Australia, on the other hand, have matches against Germany and the Netherlands in March but are free in April, before they play New Zealand in May.
“Our coaching committee have discussed with Oltmans on his plans for the Azlan Shah Cup as well as the entire season as his contract is until the end of the year.
“If the team do not play in the final, we will then re-evaluate Oltmans’ future role in Malaysia.
“But right now, we do not want to plan for failure as Malaysia should make the final considering the strength of the other teams,” said MHC president Datuk Seri Subahan Kamal recently.
Oltmans failed to take 11th ranked Malaysia into the Olympics, and now he has to plan the ‘downfall’ of Canada (10th), Japan (15th), Korea (16th) and Pakistan (17th) in Ipoh.
World No 2 Australia should breeze into the final even if they decide to field their development players.
“Going by our ranking, it is not an impossible target for Oltmans,” said Subahan, who is also the coaching committee chairman.
Malaysia were hammered 8-3 by Australia in their last appearance in the final in 2014.