KUALA LUMPUR, 14 Aug – Newly appointed national men’s hockey team chief coach, A. Arulselvaraj is holed up in a five-star hotel in the heart of the city to serve a mandatory two-week quarantine after arriving in Kuala Lumpur last Tuesday.
Separated by nearly 11,000km from his loving family in Dublin, Ireland, the former international was appointed to the hot seat after Dutchman, Roelant Oltmans quit the post on July 31 – just two weeks after the Johorean was named as the chief assistant coach.
Arul’s hot seat is for a two year period but the former national junior coach is all fired up to take up the challenge after the Dutchman left for home with some unpleasant remarks on the standard of hockey in Malaysia.
The bizarre turn of events took Arul and many others by surprise although the writing was on the wall for Oltman that it is only a matter of time for him to leave when he failed miserably in his mission to take Malaysia to the Tokyo Olympics now postponed to next year because of the pandemic.”Hockey has been my passion. Feel good and excited about my new responsibilities. However, it’s hard work with lot of sacrifices to be made on the personal front,” says Arul whose family resides in Dublin.
Arul is married to former international athlete K. Soloseeni, 47, who hails from Seremban. The couple has three daughters – Tharine, 17, Erin Mridula, 11 and Deepa 9.
However, Arul was quick to point out that being away from his family is something he has got used to.
It was the same when he had coaching stints in South Africa and Ireland before his family joined him.
”The difference now is the kids are growing up. I have a wonderful wife who is capable of handling a family matter knowing that my presence will be missed during special occasions and I will be less available in person,” said Arul when commenting on the sacrifices.
He has found courage in pursuit of a life of real fulfillment to complete his unfinished job.
The lanky left-back, Arul comes with a wealth of experience and was also the national head coach for the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.
As the head coach of the National Junior team, his last assignment was the 2015 Junior Asia Cup in Kuantan, Pahang.
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