Sachin Nadarajan with Arul Anthoni and 9 others
We flew back after World Cup in that flight Mh17 from Amtersdam on June 13th. Very sad for this pepole
THE were anxious moments at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) around midnight Thursday, as national hockey players prepared to board their flight to Scotland for the Commonwealth Games.
That was when they received the tragic news of MH17 being shot down over Ukraine airspace.
Coach K. Dharmaraj, when contacted was shell shocked.
“It is really true.. seriously, a MAS plane was shot down?,” reacted Dharmaraj when he received my sms.
“It is really scary to fly now, I am now worried for my players safety as well as we are heading for that direction in an hours time,” said Dharmaraj.
Some hockey players posted on FB that it was really eerie as the Malaysian hockey team were on MH17 when they returned from the World Cup at the Hague, Netherlands.
Goalkeepers coach S. Nadarajan posted a picture of an old MH17 baggage tag on FaceBook and wrote: “We flew back after World Cup in that flight MH17 from Amsterdam on June 13th. Very sad for these people...”
The news rattled many players as they started to contact their family members before heading for Scotland.
Coach Dharmaraj’s men will open their Group B campaign against Canada on July 26 followed by England (July 27), Trinidad and Tobago (July 29) and New Zealand (July 31).
Defending champions Australia, India, Wales, South Africa and Scotland are in Group A.
At best, the men will advance to the semi-finals but a medal is out of their reach.
A total of 10 women’s teams are confirmed, and Malaysia will open their Group A campaign against defending champions Australia on July 24.
Their other matches are against Scotland (July 25), England (July 27) and Wales (July 30).
In Group B are Canada, India, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, and South Africa.
