The men and women’s Hockey5s events will make its debut in the 2025 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Bangkok, Thailand.
Dato’ Seri Subahan Kamal, President of the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC), disclosed this during a meet-and-greet the media session at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil this evening.
“Today, I have been informed by the President of Thailand Hockey Association, Datuk Sewri Chaiyapak Siriwat, who is also a member of the Asian Olympic Council, that hockey 5s will be included in the 2025 SEA Games. The MHC welcome this announcement,” said Subahan.
The 33rd edition of the biennial Games are scheduled to be held from December 9-20, 2025 with most of the events being held in capital city of Bangkok.
“A lot of countries in the SEA Games region find it difficult to win gold medals in field hockey (both men and women) but as far as hockey5s and indoor hockey is concern, they are confident of getting a medal, or even the gold. So, they will invest a lot of money in their preparation and work hard.
“FIH president, Dato’ Tayyab Ikram has assured me during the Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) meeting in Kuala Lumpur that as long as he is the president of the world governing body, hockey5s will get its due highest-level recognition. And today we gladly welcome the announcement,” added Subahan.
With the support of the Ministry of Youth and Sports who had recently submitted a budget of RM3.9 million to the Ministry of Finance (MoF), the MHC president said he appreciates the initiative take by Sports Minister YB Hannah Yeoh and the National Sports Council.
“There are cynics who say that hockey5s is a dying game. But this notion has been proven to be not true. Today it has been included in the SEA Games. Whatever MHC does, we don’t speak out openly. We have our plans. Hockey5s is going to stay for a long time. We know we are better than the other teams and can do much better,” he said.
“I will bring this up in the executive council meeting and emphasis that a lot more is provided to hockey5s and indoor teams. I am confident and believe we will be able to do well in these two sports, not only in Asian level but at the world stage too. It’s about winning that matters. If we do well everybody is happy. The government, players, officials, hockey fans also,” expressed Subahan.
He added that a felicitation programme has been planned for the men and women’s FIH Hockey5s World Cup teams this month. The men won the silver medal while the women finished sixth in Muscat, Oman.
