Malaysian hockey head coach Stephen Van Huizen has named 35 players in the national squad ahead of the World Cup 2028 and Tokyo Olympics qualifiers.
The list features several new faces including Mohammad Hairi Abdul Rahman, Harmesh Singh and Harmeet Singh, Joel Samuel Van Huizen, Dedi Aryadi, Muhammad Hafiz Zainol, Faridzul Afiq Mohd and Dangerous Lee. Roslan Jamaluddin and Azlan Misron have both retired from national duty while Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin wasn’t included in the squad.
“This is the players who will help the national team to qualify for both World Cup 2018 and Olympics 2020.
“We still have many capable senior players in the team now, such as Kumar, Muhammad Razie Abd Rahim, Mohd Sharun Nabil Abdullah, Nabil Fiqri Mohd Noor and Muhammad Sukri Abdul Mutalib.
“Now it is time to move on, we cannot change all of the senior players. The team still has a lot of strikers who can take the job of Tengku Tajuddin,” he told Bernama at the Bukit Jalil National Hockey Stadium yesterday.
He also included three young players in the form of Meor Muhammad Azuan Hasan, Muhammad Shahril Saabah and Muhammad Haziq Samsul.
To date, Azlan has made 346 appearances for the national team, followed by Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin with 206 caps and Roslan with 199 caps.
The national hockey squad is currently preparing for the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in April next year.
The Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) earlier has set the target for Malaysia senior team to qualify for the Hockey World Cup 2018 in Orissa, India.
Full list of hockey national team
Goalkeeper: S. Kumar, Mohammad Hairi Abdul Rahman, Muhammad Hafizuddin Othman, Mohamad Hazrul Faiz Ahmad Sobri.
Defenders: Muhammad Razie Abd. Rahim, Mohd. Noor Faeez Ibrahim, Muhammad Sukri Abdul Mutalib, Muhammad Azlam Mohamed Hanafiah, Mohammad Izad Hakimi Jamaluddin, Harmesh Singh Harmeet Singh, Mohd. Shahrun Nabil Abdullah, Shazril Irwan Baljit Singh Charun Singh.
Midfielders: Nabil Fiqri Mohd. Noor, Muhammad Azri Hassan, Harvinder Singh, Joel Samuel Van Huizen, Faiz Helmi Jali, Mohd. Marhan Jalil, Mohd Fitri Saari, Muhamad Ramadan Rosli, Norhizzat Sumantri, Meor Muhamad Azuan Hasan.
Forwards: Muhammad Rashid Baharom, Mohd. Syamin Mohd Yusof, Dedi Ariyadi, Muhammad Hafiz Zainol, Faridzul Afiq Mohd. Dangerous Lee, Faizal Saari, Muhammad Firhan Ashari, Muhammad Shahril Saabah, Muhammad Haziq Samsul, Izwan Firdaus Ahmad Tajuddin.
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