The Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) today announced the appointment of Ganesh Shanmugam as manager of the National Junior team and two assistant coaches.
Ganesh, a Vice-President in the national body, is also President of the Selangor Hockey Association. The two assistant coaches are I.Vikneswaran and former international Muhammad Hairi Abdul Rahman – a goalkeeper coach.
“The MHC is delighted to announce the appointments of the team manager and coaches for the National Juniors team. The MHC Executive Board has endorsed the selection by the Coaching Committee,” said MHC in a statement released.
“The roles of the team manager and coaches are to oversee the national junior’s team training programme in preparation for the Men’s Junior Asia Cup in December which is a qualifying round for the 2025 Junior World Cup.
“The coaching structure of the national junior’s team will be headed and supervised by Sarjit Singh, the senior team head coach, with the assistance of both coaches.”
The 51-year-old Vikneswaran is a former international having represented the country in the 1993 Junior World Cup in Spain, and was manager of the junior team to the 2021 World Cup in Bhubaneswar, India and 2023 World Cup in Kuala Lumpur.
He has 53 international caps and last represented the country at the 1996 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup and 1996 Olympics qualifying tournament in Spain.
The first phase of the selection process for the national juniors’ team was held from April 29-May 10, and will continue during the TNB-Malaysia Junior Hockey League (MJHL) that starts on Friday, May 24, and the Malaysia Games (Aug 17-24) in Sarawak.
Expressing his delight at being appointed as an assistant coach, Vikneswaran who had coached the KL Razak Cup team to become champions, said, “This appointment comes with responsibility. It is a challenge of my hockey coaching ability to see the team reach its highest level.”
“Furthermore, our role as coaches is to give Sarjit as many players from the junior team for the 2025 SEA Games,” added Vikneswaran.
“Our objective is to do well in the upcoming Junior Asia Cup and qualify for the Junior World Cup.”
“I look forward to utilising my expertise in helping the team and Malaysia in achieving our goals,” he said.
