With the advantage of playing on home turf, India take on an upcoming Malaysia side in their opening match in the Lal Bahadur Shastri four-nation women’s hockey tournament starting here on Saturday.
India, ranked 13th in the world, are the hot favourites for the tournament as all other sides in the competition are placed below them. Azerbaijan are 15th, while Italy and Malaysia are ranked 19th and 24th respectively.

The tournament will be played on a round-robin format leading up to the final. On December 5, the top two sides will take on each other in the title clash. The bottom-placed teams will fight for the third place at the Shivaji stadium, which is hosting an event for the last time before start of renovation work for the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

After their opening encounter with Malaysia, India will take on Italy on Sunday and meet Azerbaijan on Tuesday.

India captain Mamta Kharab said her team was confident of doing well. “We have prepared well for the event. The other teams are good too. We have played against Italy. Malaysia are now a much-improved side,” she said.