KUALA LUMPUR: The national men’s hockey team is now in the most crucial phase of preparation ahead of the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, scheduled from Sept 23 to Oct 8.
With eyes on the gold medal to secure a 2024 Paris Olympic slot, the Speedy Tigers cannot afford to slip again when facing the best of Asia at the Gongshu Canal Sports Park, after being stunned by dark horses Japan in the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games finals.
For head coach A. Arulselvaraj (pix), the focus is now on the finer details involving penalty corners and technical aspects of the game that need to be rectified before leaving to Hangzhou.
“The focus will be on little things like ball speed and penalty corners, the very basic fundamental stuff. We will also have an empowerment week where we will be continuing with gym and fitness training, but stay away from hockey as part of our preparation plan,” he told Bernama.
The Speedy Tigers also managed to get back the services of former Australian internationals Kieren Govers and Glen Turner to help strengthen the squad’s goalscoring and penalty corner strikes for a week.
Talking on the main challengers for the Asiad gold, Arulselvaraj said the recent Asian Champions Trophy (ACT) 2023 in India, gave the team a good outlook on the opponents.
“Off course we don’t know how’s their preparations like towards the Asian Games, but we got to play all the nations there. So we take note and analyse what they can do and can’t do.
“It is better as we gained the details based on how we played against them, rather than watching them playing against other teams. A good outcome,” he said.
Arulselvaraj, who was named best male coach of the year at the 2022 National Sports Award recently, led the Speedy Tigers to their best ever performance to finish runners up behind India in the ACT.
The Speedy Tigers are expected to depart for Hangzhou on Sept 20, four days before their first Group B match against Thailand.
He said the team had no plans to leave early as the weather conditions and time zone is similar to home, while food shouldn’t be an issue as multiple cuisines would be served at the Games Village.
South Korea, Oman, Indonesia and hosts China are other challengers in the group, while world number three India, defending champion Japan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Singapore and Uzbekistan make up Group A. -Bernama