PETALING JAYA – The national men’s hockey squad will not settle for anything less than a gold medal at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, from Sept 23 to Oct 8.
Team captain Muhammad Marhan Mohd Jalil said reaching the top position of the podium at the quadrennial games was very important to guarantee an automatic slot in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
“We are not going to settle for a silver or bronze medal but to win (the 2022 Asian Games gold medal). We need to work harder to be champions,” he told reporters at the 2022 National Sports Awards (ASN 2022) here, last night.
Muhammad Marhan also described India as the main threat in Hangzhou as they have a high-intensity game style as well as experience playing in the Pro League of the International Hockey Federation (FIH).
The FIH Pro League introduced in 2019 brings together the world’s best hockey teams. Malaysia has never participated in the league.
Muhammad Marhan also set a target for the ‘Speedy Tigers’ to emerge as the champion of the 2023 Asian Champions Trophy (ACT) Hockey Tournament in Chennai from Aug 3 to 12.
Since it was introduced in 2011, Malaysia has never lifted the ACT trophy and its best achievement was winning third place five times in the 2011, 2012, 2013, 2016 and 2018 editions.
Muhammad Marhan also hopes to repay the trust of the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Road To Gold (RTG) Committee that listed the national men’s hockey squad in the RTG programme.
He also said that his teammates will try to improve on weaknesses identified in their friendly tour series against South Korea in Incheon last month.
“We found that in South Korea we gave away penalty corners too easily and often lost possession,” he said.
A. Arul Selvaraj’s squad started the tour series with a 2-2 draw on June 21, then narrowly losing 2-3 (June 23), a 2-2 draw (June 25) before ending the campaign with a 2-1 win (June 27).
Meanwhile, Muhammad Marhan described the recognition received by the ‘Speedy Tigers’ after being crowned men’s team of the year at ASN 2022 as a morale booster. – Bernama
