JOHOR BARU: One major tournament, the World Hockey League semi-final, is over. Another one – the Asia Cup to be held in Ipoh – is less than six weeks away.
Now the question is whether Paul Revington will stay on as the Malaysian coach or quit as he had planned last month.
With the Asia Cup so near, the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) definitely want Revington to stay on.
“Yes, we want him to stay on and coach the team. But the final decision has to come from him. We have indicated that we want him to stay,” said MHC president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah after Malaysia finished fifth in the FIH World Hockey League semi-final in Johor Baru on Sunday.
Tengku Abdullah said the team must not take it for granted that the fifth placing would get them to the 2014 World Cup Finals in Holland.
“We are considered one of the early reserves and that is it. We must now concentrate our attention on the Asia Cup as only winning it will secure us an automatic berth. So the team must do well in Ipoh,” he added.
Tengku Abdullah, however, was far from pleased with the team’s performance in Johor Baru, describing it as a roller-coaster ride and called for a more consistent performance.
Out of six matches, Malaysia won three, drew one and lost two.
The highlight was their wins over South Africa (6-4) and Pakistan (3-1). The fifth-place win over Japan was through a penalty shootout.
The biggest letdown was the 6-0 humiliation by Germany and put in perspective the gap in standard between Malaysia and the top ranked team in the world.
Revington said that he would take a few days off to decide on his next step.
“This is clearly not the time to make any decision. I don’t want to make a rash decision.
“There is no doubt that the Ipoh meet is very important for us. We have just completed a very tough tournament and all of us (including me) need some time to think things over,” added Revington.
The South African said the team had done well in Johor Baru in terms of performance.
“But there are still certain areas where we need to work more on. We know our weaknesses and will work on it. It is not like we can fix everything overnight. The team is clearly moving forward,” added Revington.
The team have been given time off before they regroup to prepare for the Asia Cup from Aug 24-Sept 1. It will involve Malaysia, Pakistan, South Korea, India, Bangladesh, Taiwan, Oman and Japan.
Three players, however, have been given permission to play for Malaysia at the World University Games in Kazan, Russia. Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin, Mohamed Shukri Mutalib and Mohamed Razie Rahim will join the team in Kazan tomorrow.
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