The Malaysian Hockey Federation has not invited last year’s runners-up Pakistan for the Azlan Shah Cup this year in November owing to an “outstanding debt”. “A former official of the PHF made some bad decisions during the last Azlan Shah Cup which left the PHF in debt to the MHF,” according to a source in PHF. The Malaysian organisers were “not happy” with the situation so didn’t extend an invite to Pakistan the last year’s runners-up. The source said the PHF officials were trying to sort out the matter with the MHF and hopefully the invite will come later this week. “Pakistan and Malaysia have very strong hockey ties built over the years and this issue should be sorted out,” he added.

Defending champions Japan will miss out because of prior commitments.

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