Let national Under-18 squad start training earlier – team manager

KUALA LUMPUR: The national Under-18 squad hopes to be allowed to undergo centralised training camp earlier in preparation for the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Under-19 Championship in Uzbekistan from Oct 14-31.

Team manager Datuk Kamarul Ariffin Mohd Shahar said the squad should be given the same opportunity as the Road to Tokyo athletes who have been allowed by the government to resume training from June 1 to prepare for the Olympics and Paralympic Games in Japan.

The AFC Under-19 championship is the qualifier for the 2021 FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Indonesia and the national Under-18 squad hopes to be the first Malaysian side to qualify on merit.

“As we all know, the contingents to the Olympics and the Paralympic Games in Tokyo have their own plans, and we are no different. We should be given the opportunity to start training earlier as well.

“I really hope the National Security Council (NSC) through the Youth and Sports Ministry will consider this,” he told Bernama yesterday.

Kamarul Ariffin said the Under-18 squad, which emerged as runner-up in the Asean Football Federation (AFF) Under19 Championship in 2019 and Group G winner of the 2020 AFC Under-19 Championship qualifiers, would need at least six to eight weeks to get ready.

“Head coach Brad Maloney said that we’d need six to eight weeks to prepare a team strong enough to reach the semi-finals and, thus, qualify on merit for next year’s Under-20 World Cup,” he said.

Last Tuesday, the government had given special relaxations for 265 individuals including 57 athletes involved in the Road to Tokyo 2020 programme to begin preparations and training beginning June 1.

The training sessions will be conducted at three centralised training camps -- the Bukit Jalil Sports Complex involving 181 individuals; Academy Badminton Malaysia, Bukit Kiara (56); and National Sailing Training Centre in Langkawi (28).

To date, professional football activities in Malaysia, which have been suspended since March 18 following the implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO) to curb the spread of Covid-19, will only be allowed to resume in September and all teams competing in the 2020 Malaysia League (M-League) can only start training in August. Bernama