A file picture of Mohd Hafizuddin Othman (left). He will play in the six matches lined up for the national team in Perth.
KUALA LUMPUR: Mohd Hafizuddin Othman must have impressed national chief coach K. Dharmaraj.
He is the only goalkeeper named for the playing tour to Perth next week.
Dharmaraj has named only 15 players for the six matches in Perth – two against the Australia High Performance team and four against the Western Australia team.
The players will leave on Feb 19 and return on March 2.
Dharmaraj said that he has named only 15 players for the tour as he wants to gauge the performance of all the players in the six matches.
“I will name the team for next month’s Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Ipoh based on the players’ performance on the tour,” said Dharamraj.
Among the other players going to Perth are Mohd Madzli Ikmar, Ahmad Kazamirul Nasruddin, Azlan Misron, Baljit Singh Charun, Meon Mohamed Azuan Hasan, Shahrun Nabil, Mohd Marhan Mohd Jalil, Norhizzat Sumantri, S. Selvaraju and Tengku Ahmad Tajudin.
“I have named Hafizuddin as the only keeper for the tour as he has been performing well in training.
“I want to see how well Hafizuddin, who was the first choice keeper in the Junior World Cup in New Delhi last December, copes in the six matches,” said Dharmaraj.
Besides Hafizuddin, there are three other keepers in the national training squad.
S. Kumar, who is the country’s top keeper, is currently featuring for Uttar Pradesh Wizards in the Hockey India League.
Veteran Roslan Jamaluddin, 35, is down with an ankle injury while the fourth keeper is Mohd Hazrul Faiz Ahmad Sobri, who also featured in the Junior World Cup.
Dharmaraj said that the national team would also play four friendly matches – two each against China and Canada before they play in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup.
Besides Malaysia, China and Canada, the other teams to feature in the tournament are Australia, South Korea, Pakistan and South Africa.
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