The national men’s and women’s hockey5s teams will compete in international tournaments in Russia and Thailand this year.
Hasnizam Hassan, Vice President of the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) and chairman of Hockey5s committee, announced this today.
“We received invitations from both countries and confirmed our participation. There are many programmes lined-up for the men’s and women’s national teams in our preparation for the World Cup in 2028,” he said.
The tournament in Russia will be held from August 15-20 and in Thailand from November 25-30 (6th Asian Indoor and Martials Arts Games).
“Our focus is on these two tournaments for now. We have been invited to several other international tournaments and are considering them,” said Hasnizam.
He also announced that the 2024 National Hockey5s Leagues (men and women) will be held on July 16-20 at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil.
The men’s competition received 15 entries and the women 12.
“The number of participating teams this year is larger. Last year 11 teams competed in the men’s tournament and seven in the women’s. We are overwhelmed by the response from the states,” he said.
In the men’s Group A are Pahang, Penang, Malacca, PDRM, Perlis, Sarawak and Perak. Group B involves Armed Forces, Terengganu, Kuala Lumpur, Kelantan, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Kedah.
In the women’s tournament, Selangor, Penang, PDRM, Negeri Sembilan, Sarawak and Johor are drawn in Group C while Pahang, Kuala Lumpur, Armed Forces, Malacca, Kelantan and Perak are in Group D.
“It gives us the opportunity to look at a bigger pool of players for the national teams’ selection process. We are starting fresh after our feats in the men’s and women’s World Cup,” said Hasnizam.
He also stressed that the committee has made it compulsory for each team to register three Under-23-year-old players in the men’s and women’s tournaments.
“We have insisted a minimum of three under-23-year-old players for each team and this process will help us identify younger players for our development programmes,” he said, adding that MHC also plans to introduce hockey5s in universities involving government and private universities.
“There is a very big pool of Under-23-year-old players in universities. I believe we must utilise this opportunity to unearth a wider pool of talent,” added Hasnizam.
