Injured Kevin ruled out of World Cup

THE HAGUE: Kevin Lim has been dreaming of playing in the hockey World Cup.

On Friday, the defender, who made his Malaysian debut at the recent Kuantan Champions Challenge I, watched as his dream went up in smoke.

The German-born Kevin pulled a hamstring during the practice match on Thursday night and has been ruled out of the World Cup.

Mohamed Izad Hakimi has been called up as his replacement and the Perak-born player will be here on Saturday morning.

National coach K. Dharmaraj confirmed that the International Hockey Federation (FIH) has already approved the change.

“Kevin is devastated but there is nothing we can do. His whole family is here to watch him play and they were also at the practice match. It is just unfortunate. We just have to deal with it,” he said.

Izad did not feature in the selection process in Kuala Lumpur for the World Cup as he was down with fever for two weeks. Dharmaraj said Izad had been chosen after weighing the options.

“We basically had limited choice and it probably came down to Izad or Baljit Singh. In the end, we went for the younger player,” he said.

Malaysia start their World Cup campaign on Saturday against world champions Australia.