Faid out to show he’s the man to run midfield engine room

PETALING JAYA: A fibula injury forced former international midfielder Mohd Faid Farhadh Mohd Shah (pic) to miss the recent Razak Cup but it did not stop national hockey coach A. Arulselvaraj from picking him for the national training camp.

And now, the 22-year-old from Melaka wants to justify the call-up.

Faid is grateful that Arul had looked into his past performance.

It was fortunate that Arul had worked with him during their days with the Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) in the Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) earlier this year.

Faid is happy that he had not shown any sign of his injury since joining the training camp three weeks ago.

“The intensity of training changes every week but I’m able to cope.

“The longer the training, the higher the intensity,” said Faid.

“As a midfielder, I’ve to be quick in thinking and have the vision to make good passes. The midfield runs the team. It is like the engine.

“But with so many midfielders in the team, competition for the final 25 spots will be keen,” he admitted.

Arul will name the squad tomorrow and those vying for the same position are Faiz Helmi Jali, Meor Muhammad Azuan Hassan, Mohd Ashran Hamsani, Nik Mohd Aiman Nik Rozemi, Mohd Fakhri Ardillah Abdullah, Mohd Hafiz Zainol, Shello Silverius, Norsyafiq Sumantri, Mohd Ramadan Rosli, Pavandip Singh and Fitri Saari.

The team, currently based at the National Sports Council (NSC), are preparing for the Asian Champions Trophy which will be held in Bangladesh in March next year.