Bukit Jalil: National men’s hockey head coach Sarjit Singh admits that his players’ fitness levels are still well below the standard required to match top Asian sides like South Korea, Japan, and China. While the Speedy Tigers have shown steady improvement from match to match, Sarjit emphasised that his squad is still on a ‘long journey’ toward reaching their peak.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, Sarjit expressed that the fitness of the team needs significant enhancement. “It’s still a long way because our fitness needs to be much, much better. It’s good, but not good enough. Teams like South Korea, Japan, and China aren’t just strong sides; their fitness levels are about three times higher than ours,” he said. Sarjit believes that matching these fitness levels will set the team in the right direction, highlighting the importance of gaining more experience through matches.
Malaysia’s hopes of reaching the semi-finals of the 2024-25 Men’s FIH Hockey Nations Cup were dashed despite their 2-1 win over Japan.
Sarjit mentioned that the fitness gaps were identified early, prompting the squad to travel to South Korea earlier this year for game improvement and valuable experience.
With a semi-final berth out of reach, Sarjit is focused on leading the team to a fifth-place finish, urging fans to continue supporting the Speedy Tigers. “That’s why I regrouped the boys quickly, to get the focus back. We’re now fully locked in on finishing fifth. We must get that fifth spot,” he told reporters, emphasizing the importance of not settling for lower placings, especially with an upcoming match against South Africa.
Defender Syed Mohd Syafiq Syed Cholan shared his coach’s sentiments, stressing the need to rebuild the team’s world ranking, which has recently slipped to 15th. “We want to push our ranking into the top 11 or 12. We don’t want to slip any further. Since the semi-final target is no longer in reach, we’re now fully focused on improving our world ranking,” he stated.
Malaysia is set to play in the 5th-8th classifica
tion match against South Africa this Friday. The Speedy Tigers aim to improve on their previous seventh-place finish at the 2023/2024 edition in Poland and conclude this campaign on a stronger note.