ON THE RIGHT PATH
Captain Shukri believes MHC will continue to develop sport irrespective of being in the Podium Programme
FOR national captain Shukri Mutalib, it does not matter whether the Podium Programme is retained or scrapped as he feels that the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) have been doing a great job in developing and supporting the sport.
The programme will go through restructuring after the Asian Games and this could lead to the axing of foreign coaches and technical experts to reduce expenditure.
Shukri said hockey has been consistently producing results over the years.
“Hockey was only included into the programme after we qualified for the World Cup last year.
“It makes no difference to us, and I don’t care if we are in the programme or not because MHC have their own development as well as training programmes which have produced results,” said Shukri yesterday.
Malaysia qualified for the World Cup in June last year and were only included into programme five months later.
Podium’s target for the team is qualification to the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
When MHC president Datuk Seri Subahan Kamal was asked the same question, he replied: “No comments.”
“Right now, our focus is the Asian Games and the team will leave for Jakarta on Thursday (tomorrow) with a target to win the gold medal and qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.
“I have set a high target because it is no use for me to warm the seat without any direction.
“If we fail at the Asian Games hurdle, we still have the Hockey World Series to try again. This is our focus right now,” said Subahan.
Former international Mirnawan Nawawi met the Asian Games-bound players and spoke to them on the importance of achieving the target at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil yesterday.