Argentina drop hockey player who featured in Falklands ad

London, May 9 (IANS) Argentina have dropped their controversial hockey mid-fielder Fernando Zylberberg, who featured in a controversial Falklands advertisement, from the 18-member squad for the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup tournament which is also a warm-up event for the 2012 London Games.

The 34-year-old Zylberberg, a former captain, is now doubtful for the Olympics as well. The seven-nation Azlan Shah Cup will feature hosts Malaysia, Argentina, Britain, India, South Korea, New Zealand and Pakistan. Except, Malaysia, all other teams shall be playing at the London Olympic Games in July.

The Daily Telegraph reported that Zylberberg's surprise exclusion came after he received threats on social networking sites for starring in the Falklands ad.

Zylberberg featured in the advertisement, for the Argentine state-supported television, which boasts: "To compete on English soil, we are training on Argentine soil."

In the ad, Zylberberg was shown doing step-ups on the islands' Great War Memorial honouring British sailors who died battling the German fleet in 1914. The act had enraged the locals.

Zylberberg was also filmed running past the office of Falklands newspaper Penguin News and doing arm-raises outside Port Stanley's Globe Tavern.

The player has been left red-faced with his act and he failed to attend a reception Tuesday night at the British Embassy in Buenos Aires, where several of his team-mates were present.

The daily said that the reason behind Zylberberg's absence from Malaysia has been attributed to sporting reasons.

But the rumour that is doing the round was that the player has been dropped from the Malaysia tournament and also from London Games squad so that his team mates don't face hostile fans during the Games.

Gerardo Werthein, President of the Argentine Olympics Committee, tried to downplay the incident fearing that Argentine athletes would use the London Games to promote the Falklands cause.

"The Argentine Olympics Committee wants to make it clear that using the Olympic Games to carry out political gestures of any kind is unacceptable. We will behave with the correct Olympian spirit in everything we do in London and anywhere else," he was quoted as saying in the British press.

The advertisement was first aired last May 2, the 30th anniversary of the sinking of Argentine warship General Belgrano during the Falklands conflict.