Hong Kong will be hard-pressed to push for honours at this month's AHF Cup in Singapore predicts Sarinder Dillon, president of the Hong Kong Hockey Association.
Despite some encouraging results in warm-up games against the Hong Kong Barbarians over the weekend - a 3-1 loss on Saturday and a 2-2 draw yesterday - Dillon yesterday said the national squad would be up against it in the nine-team tournament in Singapore from June 14-22.
'We are going through a transition process at the moment, having lost a number of established players. It will be difficult for this new-look team to go out and get results immediately,' Dillon said.
'But we are not too worried for our target is the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou. Although we know it is going to be tough for this team in Singapore, we need to expose them to international hockey so that they can develop.'
The retirements of senior players including Farooq Saeed, Asghar Ali, Asif Ali, Alfonso Cordeiro and Chris Marshall has created a huge vacuum in the Hong Kong squad.
The situation has been compounded by the one-year disciplinary ban of star player Arif Ali. Though currently playing in France, mid-fielder Arif is out of the SAR team until the end of the year. Also missing are several players, including Swalikh Mohammed, Mustafa Mohammed and Harinder Singh Bal, who are unavailable for Singapore.