They may have finished second at the recent Hockey World League Round 2 tournament, but the Malaysian Tigress want to continue to make leaps.
Their next target is to focus on their upcoming campaign in the semifinals of the World Hockey League in June. The semi-finals will take place either in Brussels, Belgium between 21st June and 2nd July; or in South Africa between 8th July and 23rd July.
When they’re done with the Women’s World Hockey League, the ultimate goal is to qualify for the Women’s Hockey World Cup in 2018. The world cup will take place in London from the 7th until 21st July. This will be a historic achievement – should they succeed- since Malaysia has never qualified for the hockey world cup.
But there’s still a lot of work to be done, according to head coach K. Dharmaraj. However, he is proud of his girls and believe they have the potential to go far.
“These girls have shown they have the potential to play against higher ranked teams in the world. They can go far and our second phase of journey to the World League Semi-Finals starts tonight.” K. Dharmaraj said after the Malaysian Tigress succumbed 2-0 to Ireland at the Round 2.
Malaysia Hockey Confederation (MHC) president Datuk Seri Subahan Kamal also has plans to help the girls widen their horizon and upgrade their skills. One of his plans is to send the girls to Europe so they can learn from the best.
“Yes, Asia has a lot of great teams too, like India and China, but I think the European playing style is more aggressive, and they have the physical edge.” he told Kosmo.
MHC will also make sure the Malaysian Tigress will participate in more competitive tournaments to prepare them for the 2018 Hockey World Cup.
“I hope that when there’s a tournament, the girls will keep up their great performance, go all the way, treat it as a do-or-die. There’s no more room for mistake if our goal is the world cup.”
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