Razie’s absence a worry for Malaysia in Muscat

KUALA LUMPUR: The national men’s hockey team defence will be severely tested in the absence of key defender and penalty corner specialist Muhd Razie Abdul Rahim for the six-nation Asian Champions Trophy ( ACT) in Muscat, Oman, from Oct 18-28.

Malaysia’s defence was a let down in the final of the Asian Games in Jakarta against Japan last month. Malaysia were leading 5-2 but they allowed Japan to crawl back to equalise 6-6 in the regulation time to force the penalty shoot-out, which Japan won 3-1.

Razie is nursing a hamstring injury he suffered in the four-na- tion international tournament in Darwin, Australia, last month.

His absence will severely weaken the defence and also the penalty corners conversion rate.

The 31-year-old police inspector, who has represented Malaysian for 252 times since 2006, said that he won’t be playing in the tournament in Oman as he is still recovering from the hamstring injury.

“I am undergoing physiotherapy and it will take another few more weeks for me to recover.

“For the moment, I can only do light training,” said Razie, who trained with the national team at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil yesterday.

Asked whether his absence would affect the team’s defence and also the conversion rate of penalty corners for the ACT tournament he said: “I don’t think so as we have other reliable defenders, who can play well in defence.

“We have the experienced captain Sukri (Abdul Mutalib) to marshal the backline. We also have other good defenders like Faiz (Helmi Jali), Azri (Hassan) and Syed Mohd Syafiq (Syed Cholan) to replace me.

“As for penalty corners we have Faizal ( Saari), Mohd Shahril (Saabah) and Syed Mohd Syafiq to deliver goals from penalty corners.

“The trio are equally good in the penalty corner conversion rate,” said Razie.

The national team also lost the services of two other key defenders Mohd Izad Hakimi Jamaluddin and Muhd Najmi Farizal Jazlan.

Izad has been out of action since he suffered a knee injury in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Ipoh in March while Najmi has not returned to train with the national team after featuring in the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast in April.

Malaysia will open their campaign against Japan on Oct 18, Oman on Oct 19, South Korea (Oct 22), defending champions India (Oct 23) and Pakistan (Oct 25).

The semi-finals will be played on Oct 27 and the final on Oct 28.