Good news for indoor hockey ahead of World Cup

PETALING JAYA: The bigger the better.

The addition of six new teams in the Malaysia Indoor Hockey League (MIHL) is set to create a bigger pool of players to choose from for the future national team.

The third edition of the MIHL from Sept 14-21 at the Sports Arena IOI City Mall will see a total of eight teams in the men’s and women’s divisions respectively.

Tenaga Nasional, MBPJ Black Widow and Malaysia University-Terengganu Hockey Team (MU-THT) will make their debut in the men’s competition, joining ATM, Maybank, Stallion-KJLJD, Perlis Mighty Lion, and 2022 champions DBKL HT.

In the women’s division, Malaysia University, Politeknik, and Wipers-KLHA make their first appearance alongside defending champions DBKL HT, MOHC, BNHC SMZN, CS Mustang HT, and Mutiara-PSHA.

Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) Indoor Hockey Committee chairman Shurizan Mansor said the aim is to increase the number of talents that can be nurtured into potential national players.

“It has always been our aspiration to create a wider pool of indoor hockey players who will be absorbed into development programmes and can go on to represent the national team,” he said.

The national indoor hockey team are currently preparing for the 2025 World Cup set to take place in Porec, Croatia, from Feb 3-9.

Shurizan added that having the tournament in a shopping mall would add extra value to the competition as it gives an opportunity to the public to watch matches.

“We hope the third edition of the tournament also helps provide valuable knowledge to all the technical officials and umpires,” said Shurizan.

All 20 matches of the 2024 MIHL will be broadcast on RTM’s sports channel TV Okey on RTM Klik, including the semi-finals and final.