Singapore women return to Razak Cup

women’s coach K. Dharmaraj welcomes the return of Singapore to the Razak Cup as he believes his trainees will benefit from playing against committed opponents.

The Razak Cup competitions for men and women starts on Friday and ends on Nov 3 at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil.

Singapore men will play in Division Two, while their women in Group A.

Last year, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia played in the men’s Division Two, while only Indonesia featured in the women’s event.

This year, the men’s event will not feature national players as they are in Oman for the Asian Champions Trophy before they return to prepare for next month’s World Cup.

Speaking about the women, Dharmaraj said the Razak Cup and also next year’s national league should have more foreign teams and players as it will help his girls improve.

“I believe Singapore will give my players a healthy competition in the Razak Cup. We need to play regularly with players from other countries in order to become stronger.

“All my national trainees, except for those who are playing in Europe and sitting for their Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia examinations, will be playing.

“The remaining trainees will return to their states and I hope Singapore will give our local teams a good fight,” said Dharmaraj.

Selangor are the defending champions in the women’s event.

As for the men’s event, last season’s semi-finalists Negri Sembilan want to break their jinx and win the tournament.

Negri manager S. Chandran said: “With national players out of the Razak Cup, every state will have an equal chance to win the title and we hope to lay our hands on it after being bundled out of the semi-finals last year.”

Negri will field eight Malaysia Games players while the rest are former club or national players.

In last year’s semi-finals, Terengganu edged Negri 2-1 while Perak overcame Malacca 21 in a shoot-out after a 0-0 draw in regulation time.

Perak were champions following a 3-2 win over Terengganu. GROUPINGS

MEN — Division One — Group A: Kuala Lumpur, Perak, Negri Sebilnan, Perlis; Group B: Melaka, Penang, Johor, Terengganu;

Division Two: Pahang, Armed Forces, Kelantan, Selangor, Kedah, Police, Singapore.

WOMEN — Group A: Kuala Lumpur, Melaka, Selangor, Police, Singapore; Group B: Penang, Pahang, Armed Forces, Terengganu.