KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 28: The Champions Trophy which gets under way on Thursday (today) will give the world’s two top teams, the Netherlands and Australia, a chance to gauge each other’s strength before next year’s Beijing Olympic Games.

European champions the Netherlands and world number one Australia start as clear favourites, with world champions Germany going through a slump and having had little time to prepare for the tournament.

The Netherlands team manager Robert van Maasakker said that as well as aiming for victory, the tournament’s defending champions intended to gather information on their rivals ahead of Beijing.

“This is a very nice tournament and a good tournament to prepare for the Olympics,” he told a press conference. “Still a long time away but will be an interesting tournament with a lot of teams.”

After a poor performance at the 2006 World Cup where they finished a lowly seventh, the Netherlands bounced back with some stirring displays which propelled them back to third in the world rankings.

In August, they were in fine form as they won the European title, crushing Belgium 7-2 in the semifinals before a 3-2 win over Spain in the final. That win also ensured them an automatic spot for the Beijing Olympics.

Van Maasakker said they retained some 15 players from the last World Cup and that the team was improving. They had also put the World Cup disappointment behind them, he said.

“It was a bit unfortunate but it is okay and a long time ago,” he said.

The manager said the Champions Trophy would be a tough tournament to win, with eight matches over 10 days in hot and humid conditions.

“The pitch is great for the players, it’s a nice stadium and nice atmosphere etc but it’s difficult to play hockey here in this temperature and in this climate. It is completely different from playing what we are used to,” he said.

Australia warmed up for the Kuala Lumpur championship with a test series against New Zealand which saw all three matches finish in draws.

“This is a very important tournament at this time of year... We are really looking forward to having a good result here and gauging ourselves against the other leading nations,” said Australian team manager Peter Birse.

“If you look at the form from the World Cup, obviously there’s Australia, Germany, Netherlands and Spain, the main contenders (in Beijing), but I think any of the top eight nations are possibly going to surprise others.”

Powerhouse Germany, still the world No.2 despite a hiccup in the European tournament, also said the hot and humid weather conditions stood in their way to claiming the title.

“Temperatures are minus zero back home but it’s a totally different situation here. The temperature here is about 30 degrees Celsius and extremely humid. It will be a major factor to my boys, but we have to make do with it,” coach Markus Wiese told The Star this week.

“We were too over-confident in the Euro championships and have not directly qualified for (the) Beijing Olympics, so this tournament is very important as we gear up for the qualifiers in Japan in April,” he said.

Champions Trophy Fixtures

Thursday, Nov 29: Britain v Netherlands, Germany v Pakistan, Korea v Spain, Malaysia v Australia.

Friday, Nov 30: Pakistan v Spain, Netherlands v Malaysia, Britain v Germany, Australia v Korea.

Sunday, Dec 2: Spain v Netherlands, Malaysia v Britain, Germany v Korea, Pakistan v Australia.

Monday, Dec 3: Netherlands v Korea, Australia v Britain, Germany v Spain, Pakistan v Malaysia.

Wednesday, Dec 5: Britain v Pakistan, Netherlands v Germany, Australia v Spain, Malaysia v Korea.

Thursday, Dec 6: Australia v Netherlands, Pakistan v Korea, Spain v Britain, Germany v Malaysia

Saturday, Dec 8: Malaysia v Spain, Netherlands v Pakistan, Britain v Korea, Australia v Germany

Sunday, Dec 9: Final and other classification matches.—AFP