Fouled, India won’t play Hockey in Malaysia

IHF president K.P.S. Gill told The Indian Express that ‘‘there is little we can do now since the Government has refused to clear the trip. But the team needs to play some international matches.’’ He was referring to the hectic training that the Indian team went through with the NSG commandos for a month to prepare for the prestigious tournament starting from March 22 in Malaysia.

The Government has been gradually stepping up the pressure on Malaysia through bilateral channels all of last week. First, it decided to withdraw additional landing facility slated to be extended to Malaysian Airlines at Kolkata. Then, it took steps like re-thinking on the benefits given to Malaysia on palm oil export.

New Delhi followed this up by conveying its inconvenience of hosting the Malaysian Health Minister Chua Jin Meng who was expected here towards the end of March. To avoid establishing a direct relationship of this decision with the harassment of I-T professionals, the Government simply said the proposed dates were inconvenient.

Last week, the Indian High Commissioner in Malaysia Veena Sikri met the country’s Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar and provided him with graphic accounts of what these professionals had to undergo at the hands of law-enforcement authorities despite holding valid passports and even smart cards issued by the Malaysian Government.

Malaysia has already assured India that an investigation into the matter would be conducted under the supervision of high-level police officials. But South Block is debating whether the ill-treatment of I-T professionals was a sporadic incident or in any manner related to the Malaysian Prime Minister Mahatir Mohammed’s recent habit of raising Kashmir and talking about roots of terrorism at important multilateral forums.

Meanwhile, Gill said that the Federation ‘‘is now trying organise a trip to Poland for a tournament’’. The Azlan Shah Trophy is considered to be the most prestigious tournament after the Olympics, World Cup and Champions Trophy. After India’s good showing in the last season at the Champions Trophy and the Asian Games, the Ipoh outing would have kickstarted their campaign this season. The World Cup qualifiers are scheduled for early next year.