The Sultan of Johor Cup (SJOC) hockey tournament beginning today at the Taman Daya Hockey Stadium in Johor Bahru, will be preview to the Junior World Cup to be held at Bukit Jalil in December.
The 11th edition of the tournment which sees an increase from six teams competing to eight this year, will see seven teams competing in the Junior World Cup from Dec 5-16, with the exemption of Great Britain.
Besides hosts Malaysia, the other teams who will be competing in the 13th edition Junior World Cup are tournament favourites Germany, who had won the Junior World Cup six times and only once failed to finish on the podium in their 12 appearances in 2005, Australia, South Africa, India, Pakistan and New Zealand.
Besides Germany, Argentina and India, have won the Junior World Cup tournament twice each. Australia and Pakistan have each won the tournament once.
In the Junior World Cup, Malaysia who have been drawn in Group A together with Argentina, Australia and Chile; Germany, France, South Africa, and Egypt in Group B, India, Spain, Korea, and Canada in Group C, and the Netherlands, Belgium, Pakistan, and New Zealand are in Group D.
In the SJOC, Malaysia are drawn together with New Zealand, whom they play their opening match tonight and India and Pakistan in Group B, while Germany, Australia, South Africa and Great Britain are in Group A.
All seven teams competing here, have declared that they will be using the SOJC as their final preparation for the Junior World Cup in KL next month and will only be naming their final squad after Johor.
The Germans coming here fresh from winning a junior four-nation tournament in Dusseldorf, underlined their might by the way they demolished India 6-1 in the final.
It is said that the Germans after ther SOJC will be camping in Malaysia for their final preparation for the Junior World Cup.
New Zealand’s coach Aaron Ford also said that it is the Junior World Cup squad here and said the SOJC will provide the platform for the players to showcase their progress and the depth of the young talent in his team and test themselves on the world stage.
SOJC defending champions India, go into the tournament with a dual mission – to defend their title and fine tune their team for the Junior World Cup.
Pakistan who are rebuilding their senior team, come with lot of positives after taking the silver in this year’s Asia Junior Cup in Oman where they lost to India 1-2 in the final.
The encouraging performance of juniors, saw several of them joining the senior team to play in the Hangzhou Asian Games, who beat the senior Malaysian team 5-2 for the fifth and sixth placing.
South Africa’s coach Guy Elliot, said that getting an invite for the SOHC was a blessing for his team, as they could not have asked for a better opportunity to pick his final squad for the Junior World Cup.
England, although the odd team, who did not qualify for the Junior World Cup, but having won the SOJC three times – 2015, 2018 and 2019 – and runners-up twice – 2017 and 2019 – will still be a strong contender in the ‘Mini-World Cup – in Johor Bahru.
Australia has added four new faces to their SOJC squad, as head coach Jay Stacy looks for ‘flexibility’ in his well balanced team.
However, he was quoted as saying; “ It is a well balanced team, with severeal new faces taken into consideration. By no means is this team we have named for SOJC, set in stone to be the Junior World Cup team.
“We are looking for flexibility within the squad. The SOJC will hold some weight in the selection process as we are heading to the Junior World Cup which is being played in the identical climate conditions in Kuala Lumpur.
“It will allow us to come up with a very competitive team for the Junior World Cup. We will put up all the puzzle together before deciding.
Stacy was also quick to point out that the SJOC remains a priority after the heartbreak of losing last year’s final to India in a 5-4 penalty shootout following a 1-1 draw. They aim to regain the title they last won in 2017.
For host Malaysia, this will be a crucial tournament to really access how far they have come and where they stand, after two playing tours to Australia and Europe, besides playing in the Asian Junior Cup in Oman in May.
Team manager I. Vikneswaran admitted that this tournament is crucial in their last leg of preparations.
“Our readiness will be exposed and have abouty 40 daysn to address any shortcomings and get the team in the best shape for the Junior World Cup next month,” said Vikneswaran.
Indeed, it is going to be an exciting tourmament and prelude to the Junior World Cup tournament.
