BLOWING HOT AND COLD
Men’s team fail to achieve target, women continue to impress
THE only silver lining for hockey was at the Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, Argentina in October, where Malaysia won the hockey 5s event.
This year, the men’s team earned the ‘almost there’ tag, while the women yet again showed tremendous progress under coach K. Dhamaraj.
Hockey 5s is not a popular event yet, but the International Hockey Federation (FIH) are trying their best to make it a regular competition in a move to increase participation and also to add excitement into the sport.
However, several top hockey nations did not play in Buenos Aires. For the record, the national junior side had plenty of luck in the tournament.
Zambia ousted Australia 6-4 in the last eight, and Malaysia went on to beat the African champions 7-4 to reach the final (defeated India 4-2).
The same, however, cannot be said about the men’s team.
They blew hot and cold throughout the year, and even with the best coaches to guide them, they still failed when it mattered most.
Lack of passion to finish what they had started was the main reason why even coach Roelant Oltmans had to shake his head after the 1-1 draw against Pakistan in a recent World Cup group match in Bhubaneswar, India.
Going into the tournament, Oltmans had stated that his charges were ready to qualify for the second round.
He felt that he had already plugged the holes which saw Malaysia crumbled against Japan in the Asian Games final, which denied them an automatic Olympic berth.
The World No 13 played their best match against Germany, coming back from 3-0 down to almost snatch a draw — but as always — the players failed to hold their nerves in the 5-3 defeat.
Next year, they will be hosting an Olympic Qualifier in April, and hopefully they will be better and meaner against their rivals.