NATIONAL coach Paul Revington placed his neck on the chopping board with a smile when he named six retired internationals into the training squad for the Champions Challenge I in Argentina.
Some of the six have been out of action from international duty for more than three years, while the others were dropped by coach Tai Beng Hai after the Dublin Olympic Qualifier failure.
In again are Amin Rahim, Chua Boon Huat, Sallehin Ghani, brothers Jivan and Jiwa Mohan and Ismail Abu.
“I watched the Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) matches without prejudice and selected the best 30 and also eight attachment players for national training.
“I believe in giving everybody the benefit of doubt if they are willing to prove themselves, which means players who were dropped for indiscipline or any other reason do not matter to me as long as they fit in my plan,” said Reving ton.
The players will undergo a two-day getting-to-know ses sion with the South African on Oct 12-13 in Kuantan before being released for the Razak Cup the next day.
“At the session, I will let the players know the rules and regulations of training under me and also my expectations. It would more of getting to know my players than a training session.”
The eight attachment players, which includes Kelvinder Singh, will have their own programme, to help them recover from injuries as well as improve their physical state.
The coach has set his training programme from Oct to April 2013, and players who do not show progress are in danger of being booted out of the next camp.
NATIONAL TRAINING SQUAD: From KL Hockey Club -- Azlan Misron, Chua Boon Huat, Ismail Abu, Shukri Mutalib, Fitri Saari, Shahrun Nabil, Syamim Yusof, Amerullah Aziz, Razie Rahim, Nabil Fiqri, Roslan Jamaluddin, Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin.
Tenaga Nasional: Amir Farid, Faiz Helmi, Faizal Saari, S. Kumar, Izad Hakimi , Sallehin Ghani, Amin Rahim, Azammi Adabi, Norhizzat Sumantri.
Sapura: Izwan Firdaus, Jivan Mohan, Jiwa Mohan, Marhan Jalil
Maybank: Hafifi Hafiz, Shahrin Mohammad.
UniKL: Baljit Singh, Ramadhan Rosli, Noor Faeez Ibrahim.
ATTACHMENT SQUAD: Azreen Rizal Nasir (Sapura), Khairulnizam Ibrahim (Sapura), Kelvinder Singh (KLHC) Azri Hassan (UniKL), Firhan Ashaari (TNB), Izzat Rahim (Sapura), B. Namasivayam (Maybank), Shazril Irwan (TNB).
