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KUALA LUMPUR – The Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) hopes to get more attention and financial support from the Youth and Sports Ministry following their excellent performance at the 2022 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup and Men’s Indoor Hockey Asia Cup.
MHC president Datuk Seri Subahan Kamal said a huge sum of money would be needed to improve the quality of the national team.
“We need the allocation to provide athletes and coaches with the best facilities, such as sports science, nutritionist, physical trainer, and equipment so we could send them to compete in more international tournaments.
“With more tournaments, it could help the team to perform better,” said Subahan.
MHC also hopes to meet the new minister, Hannah Yeoh and deputy minister Adam Adli Abdul Halim soon.
“It is not just to introduce ourselves to them, but we would like to get to know them better and hopefully they would be willing to listen to what we have to say,” he said.
“The Youth and Sports Ministry have been giving us the best support, no questions about it.
“I hope in the future, more support in terms of funding would be channelled to sports that delivered good results, including hockey.”
Subahan was met at an appreciation ceremony for the 2022 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup and Indoor Hockey Asia Cup men’s and women’s teams.
Following the team’s excellent performance throughout the year, Subahan is also confident that hockey will be able to contribute four gold medals to the national contingent at the 2023 Cambodia SEA Games, with two medals coming from field hockey and another two from indoor hockey.
The national men’s field hockey team won the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup for the first time since the inception of the tournament in 1983 and emerged as runners-up in the Asia Cup.
Meanwhile, the men’s indoor hockey team emerged as the champion of the Indoor Hockey Asia Cup, while the women’s squad got third place.
The teams were rewarded with a total of RM300,000 for their achievements. – The Vibes, December 24, 2022
