KUALA LUMPUR, 4 Aug – There is hope that hockey’s famous Saari brothers – Faizal and Fitri – could don national colors again under newly appointed men’s national hockey team’s chief coach A. Arulselvaraj.
However, the duo will have to clear certain hurdles in their comeback bid after being dropped from the national squad by former chief coach, Roelant Oltmans when he named the national squad in February for the now postponed Sultan Azlan Shah Cup.Others dropped by the Dutchman were Nabil Fiqri Noor, Joel van Huizen and Shukri Mutalib.
”I will meet them (Faizal (pic left) and Fitri) and have chat. At the same time they need to perform in the Razak Cup competition (scheduled to be held in September),” said Arul when contacted in Dublin, Ireland on Tuesday.
”I will also get data from ISN on sports scientific results of every player’s heart rate and all other info. Apart from that, I will also seek assistance from Amin to get more info on the squad and the players.”
The Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) announced the appointment of Arulselvaraj after the MHC accepted the Dutchman’s resignation effective August 1.
Three weeks earlier Arulselvaraj, a former international was named as the chief assistant coach. The two other assistant coaches in the national coaching set-up are Amin Rahim and Nasihin Nubli.
Arul returns to Malaysia on Aug 10 but will have to undergo a two-week quarantine. During Arul’s absence, Amin and Nasihin will handle the current national squad’s training.
The unexpected change of events caught Arul by surprise but he is game for the challenge and his first task is to prepare the team for the Asian Champions Trophy in Dhaka, Bangladesh in November.
MHC president, Datuk Seri Subahan Kamal announced the appointments at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil on Tuesday.
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