PETALING JAYA – The Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) has made it clear that they will not appoint a specific junior head coach to lead the team for the 2025 FIH Men’s Junior World Cup qualifiers, believed to be held in November this year in Inner Mongolia, China.
Instead, the governing body has entrusted its senior team head coach, Sarjit Singh, along with his assistants Sukri Abdul Mutalib, S. Kumar, and Azrul Effendy Bistamam, with full responsibility for supervising and leading the junior team in competitions, provided they are available.
MHC is also expected to hire four assistant coaches to support its senior coaches with the junior team.
This approach of senior national coaches leading their junior team is not unprecedented in modern field hockey.
For instance, Pakistan’s senior head coach and technical consultant, Roelant Oltmans, was given the mandate to lead the nation’s junior team in last year’s Junior World Cup in Kuala Lumpur, where the team finished as a quarterfinalist.
MHC president, Datuk Seri Subahan Kamal, said that this decision ensures alignment between the junior team with the gameplay and system set by the head coach for the senior team.
“The junior squad is equally important as the seniors since Junior World Cup qualifications will be happening soon.
“We don’t want to have a specific head coach for the junior team, as the senior team coach’s role is also to take care of the junior team so that they can be on the same page.
“We have four coaches in the senior team, but we are looking to get more assistant coaches. Sarjit will still head the team as a whole.
“The players are interchangeable, and the coaches can lead the juniors for the tournaments, including Sarjit if he has the time,” said Subahan at the 2024 TNB-QNET Selangor Hockey League launch (SHL), here today.
Commenting on the upcoming Sultan Azlan Shah Cup tournament, Subahan also said that the governing body will maintain its decision to not set Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for Sarjit’s team, stating that the gaffer requires time to optimise his players’ performance.
The tournament, scheduled to kick off in Ipoh from May 4 to 11, will see six teams participating – Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Korea, and defending champions Malaysia.
At the same time, Selangor Hockey Association president, S. Ganesh, said he hopes to see more talent emerging from the SHL tournament, with the potential to don the Speedy Tigers jersey in the years to come.
“SHL will have elite players participating, and we have a proven record with our Tun Razak Cup team, with many of our women’s players in the national team.
“For the men’s division, we are trying to elevate them as well by giving them more exposure, and we definitely aim to ensure that our state players are on the national team radar.
“Even with our Malaysian Games (Sukma) team, we are ensuring they all get their game time so they can be selected by Sarjit’s lineup in the months to come.
“We have the talent with us, and it’s our duty to ensure they are well-known in the national hockey landscape,” said Ganesh when met.
After a five-year hiatus, the SHL will be back in action starting from today until June 2, with the aim of unearthing new hockey talents in the country.
The league, to be held at the Pandamaran hockey stadium in Klang, will be contested in three divisions and is open to all age groups. – April 20, 2024