Mohd Hafiz Zainol (left) is one of the seven UniKL players to join the Junior World Cup squad.
KUALA LUMPUR: It must have been pleasing to Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) that seven of their players are in the final 18-man squad for the hockey Junior World Cup, which will be played in New Delhi from Dec 6-15.
The seven are G. Kavin Karthik, Mohd Nor Aqmal Abdul Ghaffar (defender); Meor Mohd Azuan, Mohd Haziq Samsul, Mohd Azri Hassan (midfielder); Mohd Rashid Baharom and Mohd Hafiz Zainol (forward).
UniKL were formed in 2010, with a number of players from the Project 2013 training squad forming the core group.
UniKL team manager Amir Azhar Ibrahim is happy to see his players in the final squad.
“These are good players ... I see them as future stars of Malaysian hockey. Our plan when forming the junior team was to provide the platform for talented players to continue playing at the highest level in the domestic competitions and to have a structured coaching set-up,” he said.
“I’m sure that the selection of the seven players will spur us to take in more youngsters for long-term development.”
UniKL also had a hand in grooming five other players who have made it to the Junior World Cup. Joel van Huizen, Mohd Zulhairi Hashim, Mohd Izad Hakimi Jamaluddin, Faiz Helmi Mohd Jali and Mohd Syamim Yusof had represented UniKL before joining other clubs.
But it is not UniKL alone who should be proud for most of the players selected for the Junior World Cup also come from the two project schools – Bukit Jalil and Bandar Penawar (now known as SSTMI).
The Project 2013 team was a four-year programme run by the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) in collaboration with the National Sports Council (NSC).
National Juniors team manager Mirnawan Nawawi praised the clubs, especially UniKL, for hiring the younger players and for helping MHC with their development efforts.
“UniKL take over the sports schools’ duty ends. Once the players from these sports schools have finished their education, they need to continue playing at the highest level. In that sense, UniKL provide these players the platform,” he said.
Mirnawan is confident that the 18 players selected have the potential to do well in New Delhi.
Malaysia are in Group D of the 16-team tournament with England, South Africa and New Zealand.
Mirnawan urged the other clubs to emulate UniKL’s efforts in providing playing opportunities for school leavers to play in the domestic competitions and improve their game.
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