Richard aims to play for Malaysia soon, and learn BM along the way

PETALING JAYA: Richard Chin (pic) does not speak Bahasa Melayu, and the national Under-23 wingback has made it his mission to learn the language to communicate better with his teammates.

The English-born Malaysian, who returned for his first-ever one-week training camp with the national Under-23 squad to prepare for the AFC Asian Cup in April next year in Doha, Qatar, only had good things to say about the stint.

“The players were very welcoming. I will be trying to learn more Malay to communicate better with everyone on the pitch,” said the 21-year-old.

“It was a really good experience that went very quickly. I only trained with the team twice and played in a friendly game against Police.

“And it was really good to meet the new head coach Juan (Torres Garrido), who was very welcoming.

“Juan and Shukor (Adan) were very good as they gave lots of details and information. I was very impressed with the set-up.”

The heritage player plies his trade for the English club Charlton Athletic. Richard is born to a Malaysian father and mother who hails from Seychelles.

He became the first player of Malaysian descent to feature in the English League when he played for 72 minutes in the club’s 1-1 draw with East Green at the Valley Stadium in London on Sept 13 last year.

Richard has been with Charlton since he was six and made his first team debut in 2021 when he played against Leyton Orient in the EFL Trophy.

He now hopes to play in an international fixture soon, now that his documentation process has been completed by the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM).

“Yes, of course, I am looking forward to donning the national jersey one day. The documentation process is going well although it has been a very tough process.”