KUALA LUMPUR: The national men’s hockey senior and junior squads have been disbanded to pave the way for the players to participate in the Malaysian Hockey League (MHL) 2024.
Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) president Datuk Seri Subahan Kamal (pix) said the two squads would be reconstituted after the MHL competition from Feb 1 to March 9.
Subahan said the coaches’ contracts have also expired following the completion of tournaments the national squads took part in.
“Following the disbanding of the national squads, the players will play for their clubs in the MHL 2024 competition.
“For now there are no national teams and we will build new squads after the league has ended. Now the coaches’ contracts have also ended,” he told a news conference at MHC in Bukit Jalil here today.
He said the situation is different in women’s hockey as a six-year plan had been drawn up for the national squad.
However, the position of national women’s hockey head coach Mohd Nasihin Nubli Ibrahim would be decided by the Coaching Committee.
He said the national executive board would act on the recommendation of the committee and endorse the new national head coach, national junior head coach and national women’s coach later.
Meanwhile, national men’s hockey coach A. Arulselvaraj is expected to submit a full report on the national squad’s performance to the Coaching Committee by this Sunday.
The national men’s senior squad, known as Speedy Tigers, failed in their mission to qualify for the Paris Olympics.
First, they missed the Hangzhou Asian Games gold medal by finishing sixth and then flopped in the Olympic qualifiers in Muscat, Oman when they ended their campaign in fifth place. -Bernama