The Malaysian hockey squad has been bumped up to 12th position on the FIH World Rankings after their series of good performance, especially in the ongoing World Hockey League.
They have been stuck on 13th position for almost three years now and the last time Malaysia ranked 12th was over five years ago. This has certainly been aided by their recent exploits and as far as the Malaysian Hockey Confederations is concerned, this could potentially help their bid of participating at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
“The last time we occupied 12th spot was over five years ago,” Datuk Nur Azmi told Bernama.
“With this achievement, our chances of qualifying for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro next year seem brighter.”
Meanwhile, Malaysian skipper Azlan is now Malaysia’s most capped hockey player after securing his 350th cap in their win over Mexico on Thursday.
The man himself was extremely excited about it, though in a recent interview with FourthOfficial.com, he dismissed the achievement as ‘not being the most important thing’ and that he’s fully focused on helping the team do well in Singapore.
“Well, I really am honoured to be the first player to achieve that but then again, it’s not the most important thing for me as of now.” Azlan said.
“What I really want is to continue contributing for Malaysia. I want to keep going, work hard and do it for as long as I can.”
Current FIH World Rankings:
Ranking Country
- Australia
- Netherlands
- Germany
- England
- Belgium
- Argentina
- New Zeland
- Korea
- India
- Pakistan
- Spain
- Malaysia
- South Africa
- Ireland
- Japan
- Canada
- France
- Poland
- Russia
- Egypt
Photo credits: www.sha.com.my
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