National team captain Sukri Mutalib will put his body on the line for the Speedy Tigers in their mission to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics via the FIH Series Finals Kuala Lumpur 2019 which kicks off on Friday at the National Hockey Stadium, KL Sports City, Bukit Jalil.
Sukri, 33, who was forced to miss the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Ipoh last month due to an injured finger, showed an amazing ability to recover and was rewarded with a place in coach Roelant Oltmans’ final 18-man squad.
Sukri is determined not to let his short injury lay-off affect his performance in the tournament and the Perak-born midfielder is ready to do battle on Friday against Brazil.
“Even though I am cleared to play, I will be using gloves with a protective wrap as a precautionary measure,” Sukri disclosed.
“I am ready to do all I can to help Malaysia qualify for the final. Our target is high and the pressure is on but we see it as a challenge. I believe we can cope with the pressure and achieve our target,” added Sukri after the official press conference at the National Hockey Stadium today.
It’s crunch time for Malaysia as they must qualify for the May 4 final in order to proceed to the Olympic qualifying rounds in November.
Opening their campaign against World No 27 Brazil, Sukri has warned his teammates not to underestimate the South Americans even though Malaysia are 14 rungs above them at World No 13.
“We must not underestimate Brazil though we are ranked above them. We are not looking for a big win, any win will do,” said Sukri.
“The last time we met them in 2015 we managed to beat them 3-2. Even though Brazil have lost all their friendly matches since arriving here, it is not a true indicator of their true abilities. In their friendly against UITM (which they lost 3-2), they didn’t have their full squad as some of their Europe-based players have yet to arrive.”
Since Malaysia are playing at home, Sukri is also hoping the fans will turn out in full force to provide support for the Speedy Tigers.
“I hope the fans will come out in droves to give that extra boost for our team in our mission. Their support is vital,” he said.
Besides Brazil, the Malaysia who are placed in Group B, must also play Italy and China. Group A is made up of Canada, Austria, Wales and Belarus.
Also in attendance at the official FIH Series Finals Kuala Lumpur 2019 press conference were national coach, Oltmans and team manager Stephen van Huizen.
