The Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hasn't quite started as the Black Sticks Men would have liked and they are now delicately poised with games against Japan (tonight) and Malaysia (Wednesday) to come. Coming up against their former coach Colin Batch, the kiwis managed a 1-1 draw against Australia thanks to a Dominic Newman goal, but they were then touched up by India 3-0.

Australia and India currently sit in the top three along with Great Britain, so there's an opportunity for the Black Sticks to get back on track with wins over the two teams who join them in the bottom three. Here's all the Black Sticks related bits and bobs I could find via the wonderful interweb from Malaysia...

Here's some other bits and bobs from the rest of the Azlan Shah Cup so far, as well as hockey funk from around the world...