Men’s, women’s teams for hockey league
Sabah will be taking part in both the men’s and women’s competitions in the delayed Malaysian Hockey League (MHL). The decision to stick to their plan made earlier was reached at the Sabah Hockey Association meeting over the weekend.
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah will be taking part in both the men’s and women’s competitions of the delayed Malaysian Hockey League (MHL).
The decision to stick to their plan made earlier was reached at the Sabah Hockey Association (SHA) meeting here over the weekend, president Datuk Seri Anil Jeet Singh said.
“We (SHA) have decided to stick to our earlier decision of sending both the men’s and women’s teams to the MHL.
“The squad are expected to leave for the tournament either on March 2 or March 3,” he said in a press conference after the meeting on Saturday.
According to him, the delayed MHL will commence on March 11 for the men’s competition followed by the women’s league on March 15 at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil.
“The state teams will leave early so that they will have adequate time to train before the tournament starts,” added Anil.
For the record, the MHL was originally scheduled to start on January 14 for men and January 20 for women respectively and both were to be completed on February 20.
However, the surge in Covid-19 cases then saw the tournament postponed, forcing the state teams to return home just days after their arrival at the country’s capital.
Meanwhile, Anil revealed there will be some changes to the men’s and women’s teams, including a new head coach to be appointed to lead the men’s squad.
Former international I. Vikneswaran was earlier named as the head coach prior to the postponement but unfortunately he could not resume his duty for the tournament restart.
“He has other commitments to attend to and business interest to take care of during the period... that is why he could not continue.
“However, he has agreed to continue contributing ideas to help the state team and for that we are very thankful to him,” said Anil.
He went on to say that two assistant coaches will be assigned for each of the state teams during the four-week tournament, where it will take place under the ‘Bubble System’ thus requiring all those involved to stay within the designated venue and no contact with outside community.
In view of that, Anil who is also Competition Committee chairman of the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) said an announcement will be made soon on the state full squad lists.
“As of now we can confirm that Yahya Atan and Hasrul Jideh will remain as the women’s team head coach and men’s team assistant coach respectively.
“Avtar Singh and Ajin Wahid are the team managers of the men’s and women’s teams.
“All other announcement will be made in the next few days, including the remaining coaches and also players before the final lists are to be submitted on Wednesday by 5pm,” he said while expecting more changes in the men’s squad due to work commitments.