No lack of matches for hockey boys

KUALA LUMPUR: Despite the postponement of the six-nation Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Ipoh, there will be no lack of matches for the national hockey team.

The tournament, which had been scheduled from April 11-18, has been postponed to Sept 24-Oct 3 due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

National coach Roelant Oltmans said there was nothing to be worried about with the postponement as the team had enough matches to play in the next four months.

“Two teams which will feature in Tokyo Olympics will be coming to Kuala Lumpur to play against the national team either in April or May. I will only reveal the two teams next week, ” he said.

He added that New Zealand team will be in Malaysia in June to play a series of matches in Kuala Lumpur and also in Kuantan in preparation for the Olympics.

“We will also be going to Europe in July to play in a four-nation meet in Spain. The other countries in the meet are Germany and Ireland.

“We are expecting to play seven matches in Europe and those matches will be enough for the team to prepare for the postponed Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, ” said Oltmans.Oltmans said the postponement would also give him time to prepare a strong team for the tournament.

“We have 34 players in the training squad but eight have been released to join the National Junior in preparation for the Junior Asia Cup (in Dhaka, Bangladesh from June 4-14), which is a tournament to qualify for the Junior World Cup in 2021, ” said Oltmans.

The eight players released to train with the junior team are Mohd Nur Asyraf Ishak, Mohd Arif Syafie Ishak, Shello Silverius, Arif Sabron, Mohd Akhimullah Anuar Esook, Mohd Azrai Aizad Abu Kamal, Mohd Nor Firdaus Rosdi and Mohd Amirul Hanif Mamat.

The other teams to feature in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup are 10-time champions Australia, Canada, Japan, South Korea and Pakistan.

Australia, Canada and Japan will feature in the Olympics from July 24 to Aug 9.