KUALA LUMPUR − The Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) have decided not to send the national men’s hockey team to the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham, the United Kingdom.
The MHC made the decision as they felt that a bigger assignment awaits the Speedy Tigers − who are training under the guidance of head coach A. Arul Selvaraj − in the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China in September as the Asiad offers a slot to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
The Commonwealth Games are set to be held from July 28-August 8 and the Asiad from September 10-25.
MHC national team management committee chairman Datuk Ahmad Najmi Razak said the decision was made at the MHC executive board meeting last week after taking into account the views of Arul and MHC technical director (development) Paul Revington.
“The head coach feels that the team should focus on the Asian Games in China because there is only a short (time) gap between the Commonwealth Games and Asiad, besides other factors like the quarantine process that they have to undergo.
“To avoid being underprepared for the Asiad, the head coach said we should just focus on it (Asian Games). Our focus is to qualify for the Olympics so that’s why we must focus on the Asian Games,” he said when contacted by Bernama today.
At the same time, Najmi denied that the decision not to send the national team to Birmingham was due to financial constraints.
Meanwhile, he said various views were presented at the meeting to ensure Malaysia took part in the Commonwealth Games, including sending the junior squad.
However, he said, that would have been risky as it could affect Malaysia’s world ranking.
“In our opinion, if we send the junior team, we won’t be as competitive and we may lose to teams like Pakistan, for example. Pakistan are currently way behind us in the world ranking and if they win, they will get a lot of ranking points. (Malaysia is currently ranked 11th in the world with Pakistan at number 18.)
“The level at the Commonwealth Games is vastly different for us to send our reserve or even junior squad. India, Pakistan, England, Australia… they are all among the strongest teams around,” he said.
For the record, the men’s national hockey team missed out on a glorious chance to qualify on merit for the Tokyo Olympics last year after losing to a young Japanese squad in the final of the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia.
The Asian Games gold medallists automatically qualify for the Olympics.
Malaysia’s best achievement in hockey at the Commonwealth Games was a silver-medal finish in the 1998 edition in Kuala Lumpur. Prior to that, the Speedy Tigers last won a medal at the 2006 edition in Melbourne, Australia when they bagged the bronze. – Bernama, March 3, 2022
