KUALA LUMPUR: The current national hockey squad can only be described as a ‘national team’ but not an ‘international quality team,’ said former Malaysian Olympian Maninderjit Singh. He shared this opinion as he believes that only three veteran players – Marhan Jalil (34), Faizal Saari (33), and Fitri Saari (31) – deserve to be called international level players.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, Maninderjit Singh expressed his concerns over the current state of Malaysian hockey during the SAMBANG podcast produced by the Sports Writers Association of Malaysia (SAM). He highlighted the significant gaps in the team, noting that out of 54 players from three Junior World Cup cycles, only five have made it to the senior team, with 49 players no longer in the picture. The recent performance at the 2024 Sultan of Johor Cup (SOJC), where the team lost all matches, further accentuates the challenges ahead.
Maninderjit Singh expressed pessimism about the team’s chances of qualifying for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics,
especially with the United States already securing one slot. He emphasized the need for the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) to urgently implement a development programme aimed at preparing for the 2030 Doha Asian Games and the 2032 Brisbane Olympics. This initiative should not be an ad-hoc measure but a long-term strategy.
A crucial point raised by Maninderjit is the lack of a structured development programme for local coaches, which has led to an over-reliance on foreign expertise. He criticized the current approach of depending on foreign consultants, urging the need to focus on nurturing local coaching talent, who are familiar with modern hockey techniques.
He stressed that when recruiting new coaches, their ability to build and lead a team from scratch using scientific methods should be prioritized over their resumes. Maninderjit believes that the decline in the national team’s performance started six to seven years ago and has been a growing concern since 2015, as the prospects for the future seem
bleak.