We won’t cop out

Razie and Nabil out to arrest Malaysia’s decline in W-Cup

KUALA LUMPUR: Razie Abdul Rahim and Nabil Fiqri Mohd Noor are cops but their mission currently is not to go after criminals.

For now, the duo’s duty as national hockey players is to put up fiery performances at the World Cup in Bhubaneswar, India, starting on Nov 28.

And the bosom buddies are up to the challenge.

Thanks to their love for hockey, defender Razie and penalty corner specialist Nabil have become closer than brothers.

The Kuala Lumpur players studied together at the Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS) since 2000 and joined Universiti Putra Malaysia in 2009.

They played for BJSS in the National School Sports Council ( MSSM) championships, for Kuala Lumpur in the Razak Cup and made their debut in the national team in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in 2006.

The duo even played for the same hockey club – KL Hockey Club in the Malaysia Hockey League.

And both went for police training together in 2015 and are now police inspectors at the sports department in Bukit Aman. The duo also received the sports award from the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) for their contributions in hockey last year.

Nabil said they were like “partners in crime”.

“Our friendship started when we were at the sports school.

“I didn’t know much about Razie at first as he was a very quiet person then. But our friendship grew as we loved the same sport and we have been playing together since we were 13.

“I love playing hockey because of my father (Mohd Noor Hussin), who was a former national player and also played for Royal Malay Regiment (RMR) in the 80s,” said Nabil.

Together, Nabil and Razie achieved numerous success with BJSS and later, in the national team.

“We helped BJSS win the double (league and overall title in the Malaysian Junior Hockey League) a few times,” said Nabil.

They also won their first- ever silver medal at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games and defied the odds to finish fourth in the World League Semi-Finals in London last year to qualify for the World Cup in Bhubaneswar.

“The only painful memory was at the recent Jakarta Asian Games. We lost to Japan in the final and blew our chance of gaining automatic qualifying for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

“We’ve learnt our lesson and we hope to defend well against stronger teams in our Group D,” added Nabil, who helps his wife run a pet shop in Bangi when he is free.

Razie said together with Nabil, they aimed to make a difference at the World Cup.

“Nabil is kind-hearted and has helped me in many ways. We’ve played together for the last 12 years in the national team and it has all been good,” said Razie, who will marshal the defence.

“I’ve a heavy responsibility as I have to defend the backline as well as deliver goals from penalty corners, but I’m physically and mentally ready,” added Razie, who scored three penalty corner goals in the last World Cup in The Hague in Holland in 2014.