MHF shortlist 18 for Poznan

05/08/2003


THE Malaysian Hockey Federation will select 18 juniors for the FIH Youth
Carnival in Poznan, Poland, on Aug 14.
Malaysia, the defending champions, have left no stone unturned in their
preparations as they expect a tougher time defending the gold they won by
beating Germany 3-1 in the final of the last edition.
MHF secretary S. Satgunam said yesterday, they have selected 27 players
for training which will begin on Aug 11.
"Most of the players are involved with the Malaysia Hockey League right
now, so they will only attend centralised training on August 11. The MHF
have also selected Sarjit Singh as head coach, while his assistant will be
Arul Selvaraj. The team manager for Poznan will be Poon Fook Loke," said
Satgunam.
Four players eligible for the Youth Festival were left out as they are
playing in the Asia Cup in Kuala Lumpur next month.
"P. Prabahkaran, Riduan Nasir, Ismail Abu and Azlan Misron have been
left out of the Poznan list because they might be included in the Asia Cup
training squad.
"Otherwise, we have selected the best juniors in the country to defend
our gold medal," said Sarjit.
Engku Abdul Malik is expected to lead the team once again.
Among the players with experience and played in Poznan last year are
Mohamed Fairuz Hamsani and Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin, who was named the
`Player-of-the-Tournament' and goalkeeper Ahmad Bazli Razali, who was
voted as the tournament's `Best Goalkeeper'.
Abbas Nekmat, who featured in the team last year, has opted out because
of studies.
Training squad: Mohamed Firdaus, Hanafi Hassan, Ahmad Bazli, Wan Mohamed
Asyrizal, Engku Abdul Malik, S. Bubalan, Baljit Singh Charun Singh,
Mohamed Mawardi, Razie Rahim, P. Mahendran, Sufian Mohamed, S. Selvaraju,
Fauzi Rahim, Radzi Ismail, Mohamed Fakhrulrazi, Kelvinder Singh, Shahrun
Nabil, Fairus Hamsani, Izwan Hassan, Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin, Fazreen Ehsan
Kulub, Hafifi Hafiz, Jiva Mohan, Sallehin Ghani, Redza Maadun, Azli
Misron, Megat Azrafiq.
(END)