IPOH – South Korea hockey head coach Min Tae-seok admits that his coaching team needs to put in extra work to develop more flickers if they hope to become a successful side in the future.
Tae-seok’s response came after his side’s 1-0 victory against Canada at the ongoing Sultan Azlan Shah Cup today.
The experienced coach, who is building his young side for a gold medal push at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, said the team needed more young flickers to fill in the legacy created by Jang Jong-hyun.
The 40-year-old Jong-hyun has been South Korea’s main flicker since making his debut for the national team in 2004.
The former Olympian, who participated in the 2004 Athens, 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Olympics, has scored a total of 139 goals in 314 appearances, with 73.2% of his goals coming from penalty corners.
“We need more flickers like Jong-hyun to be in the team, and we need to start developing more players like him for the future of our national team.
“I have noticed that our flickers are not good enough, and this issue has to be rectified soon if we hope to succeed in the Asian Games.
“I’m not saying that we don’t have the talent, as several senior players are still available and can be brought into the team. But we shouldn’t be doing that as we need to move forward with the young team that we already have.
“We do have coaches who have moulded Jong-hyun into a world-class player, and we will apply the same training methods to our young players in the days to come,” said Tae-seok.
The Koreans, ranked 12th in the world, missed out on this year’s Paris Olympics after losing to Ireland in a third-place Olympic qualifier in Valencia, Spain, in January.
For the record, India are the only Asian team out of 10 countries to have qualified for the Paris Olympics.
The Taegeuks, who have won the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup on three occasions (1996, 2010 and 2019), entered the invitational tournament with zero expectations as they aim to give exposure to their squad, with an average age of 26.
South Korea have won a total of eight medals (four golds, one silver and three bronzes) in Asian Games hockey since their first participation in the 1958 edition in Tokyo.
Their last gold medal in Asian Games hockey was won at the 2006 edition in Doha, Qatar.
South Korea, who have only scored two goals in three matches in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup so far, will take on New Zealand in their fourth match tomorrow. – May 7, 2024