THE Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) president Datuk Seri Subahan Kamal yesterday revised his KPI for the national team, from current World No 14 to World No eight in two years time.
He said this at the launching of new attire and sponsorship presentation for the national men's and women's teams. The men will be playing in the Asian Champions Trophy (ACT) in Kuantan on Oct 20-30.
"When I took over more than a year ago, I said I wanted the men's team to become 10th by the time my tenure is over. However, after charting their path to qualify for the World Cup (2018) and Olympics (2020), I have renewed my KPI to take the team to eight in the world," said Subahan.
A total of RM900,000 sponsorship has been received for the ACT, and from the traditional yellow, the men and women will now wear orange jerseys as their first kits. Their second and third kits remain blue and white respectively.
The sponsorship is RM500,000 from QNET, RM300,000 from Tenaga Nasional, RM50,000 from Genting Malaysia and RM50,000 from Waz Lian Group of Companies.
Kappa, an Italian sportswear brand, had pledged RM350,000 in sponsorship towards the national men's and women's senior teams for the duration of three years.
"Since the team is known as Tigers, a change from yellow to orange is appropriate," said Subahan.
The ACT will be offering International Hockey Federation (FIH) ranking points for the first time in its Fourth Edition, and to achieve Subahan's KPI, the Tigers need to play in the final of the ACT.
When asked about Malaysia's target in the ACT, Subaha said: "I have my own KPI, and coach Stephen (van Huizen) has his own."
Van Huizen maintained semi-finals in the ACT as his first target.
"We are ranked fourth in Asia and going by ranking, we will aim for the semi-finals first," said van Huizen.
The other teams in the ACT are defending champions Pakistan, Asian Games champions India, South Korea, China and Japan.
The format is easy, as the top-four after a Round Robbin, play in the semi-finals.
