Amin recalled to improve on poor penalty corner conversion rate

Former international Mohd Amin Rahim has been recalled to join the national hockey training squad to improve on the penalty corner conversion for the Olympic qualifiers in Japan in April.

The Selangor defender, who was dropped after their failure in the Doha Asian Games last December, will join the team in training on Friday.

National coach Sarjit Singh said that he had to recall the penalty corner flicker after the poor penalty corner conversion rate in the recent Champions Trophy at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil.

Amin: Dropped after the Asian Games in Doha last year.
Malaysia played eight matches in the Champion Trophy and only managed to score one penalty corner goal.

Sarjit said that in the absence of the injured Zulkifli Rejab, they had banked on defender Baljit Singh Sarjab and midfielder Jiwa Mohan to deliver the goals from penalty corners but both failed miserably.

“We only managed to score one goal and that too off a set-piece by Chua (Boon Huat) in the tournament.

“We need a good penalty corner flicker to help us win the qualifiers and qualify for the Beijing Olympics.

“Amin has a good conversion rate and his presence in the team will definitely boost the team. However, his inclusion in the final team will depend on his fitness level and his ability to deliver direct goals from his flicks in training,” said Sarjit.

Amin was a member of the Malaysian team that bagged the Melbourne Commonwealth Games bronze medal. He scored six goals in the Games and was the top scorer for the national team.

Since being dropped, he has featured in the Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) and scored regularly for Tenaga Nasional.

Earlier, the Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) had called up former captain and penalty corner specialist S. Kuhan to the team for the qualifiers.

Kuhan, who was also dropped after the Doha Asiad, played in the Korat SEA Games and guided the team to the gold medal.

“With Amin and Kuhan back in the team, I hope our penalty corner conversions will improve.

“I have 32 players in the training squad and if both of them do well in training they will get to go for a playing tour to Australia in February,” said Sarjit.

He added that the team would play nine matches with the New South Wales and Queensland teams in Brisbane and Sydney respectively.

“We will also play five friendly matches with Asian Games champions South Korea here in March in preparation for the qualifiers.”