Rhinos captain Rawilson catches national selectors attention
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah impressive start to the 2018 Malaysian League campaign did not go unnoticed.
The Rhinos have gone unbeaten in four matches to occupy second place in the Premier League, winning twice and registering as many draws for eight points.
In the FA Cup, Sabah were eliminated in the second round but with their pride intact, losing 1-2 after extra time to the ‘Malaysian Galacticos’ Johor Darul Takzim (JDT) here.
Much credit has been given to head coach Jelius Ating’s ability to get the best out of the players to perform to their maximum.
And the fruit of all the good work has started to show.
After Robson Rendy Rining was nominated for the February PFAMasiana.my Player of the Month for February, another Sabah player is set to get a bigger reward for the good form.
Rawilson Batuil, the captain of the Sabah senior team, is said to be under the national team radar after his eye-catching displays for Sabah at centre back.
“It is true that he is being closely monitored by the the national senior team squad but nothing is confirmed yet.
“Rawilson is maturing as a player and has shown rapid progress. He has to continue to work hard and produce consistent performance.
“Now it is all up to Rawilson to prove that he is worth a place in the national team under (head coach) Tan Cheng Hoe.
“I was made to understand that the national coach will come down and watch him play our next game,” said Jelius.
Rawilson, or rather popular with his nickname ‘Jipun’, was roped into Sabah senior team in 2014 after playing for the state under-21 squad in the President Cup.
The 24-year-old footballer from Kota Marudu established himself as regular for the Rhinos last season, where he also showed his leadership quality that led to him being handed the captain armband until now.
Meanwhile, Jelius said Rawilson was just among several young players in the squad that have shown tremendous progress.
“Robson is one of them and he has been doing a great job in his first season as the first choice goalkeeper.
“The nomination for the Player-ofthe-Month said it all about his form. In fact, he is the only local footballers nominated for the February award,” he said.
Having said that, Jelius revealed he was happy with Rawilson being considered for the national team while Robson nominated for the Player-ofthe-Month.
“I’m sure these will only benefit the squad...it will surely boost the team spirit.
“I also believed that the other players will work harder to achieve their targets and young players such as Maxius (Musa), Sabri (Sahar), Azzizan (Nordin), Jenius (Karib), Randy (Baruh) and others are also showing improvement,” he said.
Sabah will return to league action when they take on MISC-MIFA at the Petaling Jaya Muncipal Council Stadium on March 12.