MHC eye gold at Series Finals

AN ambitious Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) have set their sights on gold even though coach Roelant Oltmans aims for a top two finish in the Series Finals on April 26-May 4.

And towards this dual-goals, four players, who recently recovered from various injuries, have been included into the preOlympic qualifier.

Skipper Shukri Mutalib, Syed Syafiq Cholan, Shahril Saabah and goalkeeper Hafizuddin Othman were among the 18 on the final list released yesterday.

National No 1 goalkeeper S. Kumar, as predicted, could not recover in time from hamstring injury.

Roelant said: “I selected players who I am confident have the best abilities to take Malaysia into the final Olympic Qualifier in November by finishing top-two in the Series Finals.

“Of course we want gold, but that can only be ascertained when the tournament starts and when we complete game after game.

“I can’t wait for the tournament to start, as I believe I have selected the best and I have confidence in their ability to deliver,” said Oltmans.

“I have included the four because they have fully recovered from injuries, while 14 others were selected from the Azlan Shah squad.”

Oltmans said Malaysia will play a more attacking game than in the previous tournaments that he has handled.

In the pre-Olympic Qualifier, Malaysia will open accounts against Brazil on April 26, China on April 28 and Italy on April 29. In Group A are Canada, Austria, Wales and Belarus.

MALAYSIA’S SQUAD — Goalkeeper: Hairi Rahman, Hafizuddin Othman.

Defenders: Sukri Mutalib, Razie Rahim, Faiz Helmi Jali, Najmi Farizal Jazlan, Syed Syafiq Cholan.

Midfielders: Marhan Jalil, Nik Aiman Nik Rozemi, Meor Azuan Hassan, Fitri Saari, Ashran Hamsani.

Strikers: Azrai Aizad Kamal, Nor Syafiq Sumantri, Shahril Saabah, Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin, Firhan Ashari, Faizal Saari.