MHF: Muralidharan free to pick his man

National junior hockey coach V. Muralidharan will be given a free hand to pick his assistant.

The Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) coaching chairman, C. Paramalingam, said they had shortlisted a few candidates for Muralidharan to consider.

Currently junior development coach Paul Lissek is assisting the 47-year-old Muralidharan, who took over the job as national junior coach following the decision by Tai Beng Hai to quit the team in October.

“We want him to be comfortable working with the person he picks. We have to name the assistant soon because the national juniors will be involved in an eight-nation tournament from Jan 17-27,” said Paramalingam.

The invited teams for the tournament are Australia, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, India, Pakistan and South Korea.

Paramalingam added that Muralidharan had yet to submit the programme for the team to the coaching committee.