Asia Cup hockey 2009 has turned into a 7-team tournament after Sri Lanka pulled out from the tournament. Though Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) offered Singapore, Hong Kong and Thailand to fill in the gap created by Sri Lanka’s withdrawal, neither of the countries responded, leaving AHF with no other options but to stage the tournament with 7 teams. Sri Lanka initially replaced Oman who had pulled out earlier, and now that Sri Lanka also followed Oman’s footstep, the organizers are in a tough condition with the tournament format. It is really very tough to make 2 groups with 7 teams, but AHF has decided not to change the tournament format. So, now Group B where Sri Lanka was drawn would feature only three teams including defending champion India, Pakistan and China, while Group A will feature host Malaysia, Japan, South Korea and Bangladesh.
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