Stephen not in hurry to replace Kumar, waiting for FIH

PETALING JAYA: National men’s hockey squad head coach, Stephen Van Huizen is certainly not in a hurry to replace goalkeeper S. Kumar in the Podium Programme squad, ahead of several major tournaments this year.

With Kumar, who is temporarily suspended after being tested positive for doping during the Asia Cup last October, still waiting for the hearing, Stephen does not want to push the panic button, but makes the decision based on the International Hockey Federation’s (FIH) verdict.

“We are certainly waiting for the decision from FIH, it is out of our control...I understand FIH may have a hearing at the end of the month or in March, once we get the decision, then we are more clear, I mean just promoting a player to the programme and then dropping him once Kumar is back is not a good option.

“Maybe Kumar only gets a minimal suspension…We are not in hurry, we have Hafizuddin Othman and Hairi Abdul Rahman, as well as Muhamad Zaimi Mat Deris who played in (2016) Junior World Cup is on attachment with the squad,” he said during a press conference to announce Astro Arena as the official broadcaster for the upcoming Sultan Azlan Shah Cup (SASC) from March 3-10 at Ipoh, Perak.

The 37-year-old national number one goalkeeper has been tested positive for sibutramine, a substance used for weight loss during the 2017 Asia Cup in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Meanwhile, the 58-year-old coach said the national squad for the 27th edition of SASC, would be named after the two friendly matches against world number two Argentina on Feb 27 and 28, with only minor changes to the squad which emerged runnersup at the 2017 Asia Cup.

“SASC is our first tournament for this year, a good chance to look where we (squad) and players stand against the best teams in the world like world number one Australia, Argentina and Asia’s top, India besides Ireland and England which are ranked above us. Some of these teams we will meet again in the Commonwealth Games where England and India are in our pool.

“For now only two players are injured, Mohd Izzat Hakimi Jamaluddin who is doing rehab for meniscus and Faiz Helmi Jali who had a knob. SASC is an opportunity for us to try few players who have not played international hockey because we need to expose them,” he said.

Stephen said, the current squad had also won his trust and confidence to overcome the challenges to be faced in a few major tournaments this year, namely the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games from April 4-15, Jakarta Palembang Asian Games (Aug 18-Sept 2) and World Cup in India (Nov 28-Dec 16).