Goalkeeper S. Kumar has been ruled out of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup from April 6-16 in Ipoh when the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) named an 18-man squad for the 25th edition of the most prestigious international invitational hockey tournament.
The 37-year-old Kumar, the most senior member of the national team that went on a playing tour of New Zealand and Australia recently, suffered an adductor muscle injury (groin area) and has been advised by doctors and physiotherapists at the National Sports Institute to take a complete rest between three to four weeks.
MHC named 18 players for the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup which will feature world champions Australia, defending champions New Zealand, Asian Games gold medallist India, three-time champions Pakistan, Canada, Japan and Malaysia.
Drag-flick specialist and defender Razie Abdul Rahim will lead the side to the Azlan Shah Cup which also includes Sukri Mutalib, Junior World Cup qualifier captain Najib Abu Hassan as well as several youngsters who performed credibly in the Oceania tour.
National head coach, Stephen van Huizen, said: “Having finished last in the 2005 edition of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, Malaysia’s main aspiration is to finish better than we did last year, both in terms of results and quality of play.”
“It is really unfortunate that we have to leave Kumar out of the squad. The doctors feel that two weeks rest is too short a time for Kumar to recover. Sultan Azlan Shah Cup is the first step in our journey towards qualifying for the 2018 World Cup. The qualifiers will be held in 2017 and our main target is also to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics,” said Van Huizen.
He added that Kumar suffered the injury during Malaysia’s third and final match against Australia in Perth. He only played for five minutes and was replaced by Mohamed Hafizuddin Othman.
Hafizuddin and Hairi Abdul Rahman will, for the first time, play pivotal roles in the absence of Kumar and Coach Van Huizen is confident the duo has what it takes in them to play against these top teams.
“Hafizuddin played in the Commonwealth Games and also in the Antwerp World League Semi-finals so in terms of experience he can be considered a senior player. We have two friendly matches before the SAS Cup starts on Wednesday and will decide on who takes the field,” added van Huizen.
The senior Malaysian team will play the second stringers on Saturday and Australia on Monday in friendly matches at the Sultan Azlan Shah Shah Stadium in Ipoh.
Malaysia will open its campaign in the tournament against New Zealand on Wednesday at 8.0pm.
The Squad – Goalkeepers: Hafizuddin Othman, Hairi Abdul Rahman.
Defenders: Razie Abdul Rahim, Najib Abu Hassan, Sukri Abdul Mutalib, Izad Hakimi Jamaluddin.
Midfielders: Marhan Jalil, Fitri Saari, Joel Samuel van Huizen, Nabil Fiqri Mohd Noor, Meor Muhamad Azuan Hasan.
Forwards: Ramadan Rosli, Haziq Samsul, Firhan Ashari, Nik Aiman Rozemi, Shahril Saabah, Rashid Baharom.
Head Coach: Stephen van Huizen
Asst Coach: Lim Chiow Chuan
Manager/Goalkeeper Coach: Nasihin Nubli
