Twenty-five for national training

TWENTY-FIVE players were selected from the Malaysia
Hockey League (MHL) for national training, and 16 of them were from the Asian Games silver-medal winning side.
Azlan Misron was named as the skipper, while goalkeeper S. Kumar, Razie Rahim and Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin were named as co-captains.
Kelvinder Singh, the most promising player in the 2005 Junior Worold Cup, was given another life-line after he showed marked progress in the MHL.
Kelvinder was sidelined after picking up an injury during the New Zealand World Cup Qualifier and did not play in the Asian Games.
The youngsters picked were 18-year-old Firhan Ashaari who played for Tenaga Nasional, and 19-year-olds Faiz Helmi (TNB), Azri Hassan (UniKL) and Rashid Baharom (UiTM).
Five other players were also named to the 'senior team attachment programme' and they are: Nor Hizzat Sumantri (UniKL), Amir Fairid (UniKL), Arief Iskandar (UniKL), Fitri Saari (KLHC) and Mohamed Noor Faeez (KLHC).
The only player who impressed in the MHL but was not selected was Ismail Abu of KLHC, who was a former national player but sacked for disciplinary problems.
The national team's first assignment this year will be the Azlan Shah Cup on May 5-15 in Ipoh.
NATIONAL TRAINING SQUAD: S. Kumar (Gk), Roslan Jamaluddin (Gk), Razie Rahim (KLHC), Baljit Singh (TNB), Madzli Ikmar (TNB), Amin Rahim (TNB), Azreen Rizal (Sapura), Shahnrun Nabil (KLHC), Sukri Mutalib (KLHC), Marhan Jalil (Sapura), Nabil Fiqri (KLHC), Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin (KLHC), Faizal Saari (TNB), Azlan Misron (KLHC), Hafifihafiz Hanafi (Maybank), Izwan Firdaus (Sapura), Kelvinder Singh (KLHC), Azzami Adabi (TNB), Izzat Rahim (Sapura), Fitri Bakar (YNS), Shahrin Mohamed (Maybank), Firhan Ashaari (TNB), Faiz Helmi (TNB), Azri Hassan (UniKL), Rashid Baharom (UiTM).