KUALA LUMPUR: The national men’s hockey squad will take on New Zealand in a friendly warm up match on May 1 in the run up to their Sultan Azlan Shah Cup campaign from May 4 to 11.
National head coach Sarjit Singh said New Zealand, who will arrive on April 28, were good opponents to play against as they are slated to compete will play at the Olympics.
“We will also try to arrange a match against Pakistan, as there’s a possibility we might play against them in a pool at the Nation’s Cup (from May 30 to June 1),” he told reporters on the first day of training at the Bukit Jalil National Hockey Stadium here last night.
He shared that 42 players reported in for tonight’s training session, out of a total of 46 players called up.
“Tengku Nasrul Ikmal Tengku Abd Rahim will be reporting in late, and Muhammad Syafiq Hassan has replaced Perabu Tangaraja, who withdrew at the last minute due to personal reasons. Faizal Saari, who is playing in Bangladesh, will join on April 15,” he said, adding that the training camp, which will end on March 30, was to determine each player’s abilities before he shortlisted 30 players to form the new Speedy Tigers team for the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup and the Nations Cup in Poland.
The players will be divided into three groups to compete against each other in eight matches before the full national squad list is unveiled on April 1. — BERNAMA
