MWHA to embark on plan to qualify for Junior World Cup

The Malaysian Women’s Hockey Association (MWHA) will embark on a special programme next month to try and qualify for the Junior World Cup next year.

To achieve the dream, the MWHA have agreed to host the Junior Asia Cup from Dec 1-8 at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil.

The winners of the tournament will gain an automatic berth to the Junior World Cup while the second- and third-placed teams will get to play in the qualifiers.

The Malaysians have not featured in the Junior World Cup or the qualifiers before but there is a feeling that they stand a good chance with the current crop of players.

MWHA secretary S. Shamala said the junior players were currently training with the seniors and that nine of them were part of the national team.

“We have a very good set of players but so far the programme has been run on an ad hoc basis,” she said.

“Next month we hope to start off the programme on a full-time basis and the target is the Junior Asia Cup in December.

“We will name a full-time coach for the team next week and the programme will take off after the Olympic qualifiers next month,” added Shamala.

The women’s Junior World Cup will be held in Boston, United States, from Aug 4-16 next year. The qualifying tournaments will he held in the early part of the year.

Among the teams expected to play in the Junior Asia Cup are South Korea, China, Japan, India, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia.

Currently the senior team are preparing for the Olympic qualifiers, which will be held in Canada from April 26-May 4.

The teams who will be competing in the meet are hosts Canada, South Korea, Ireland, Italy and Uruguay. Only the winner will gain a berth to Beijing.

Shamala said that the team were expected to leave for Canada on April 14 and the final squad of 18 would be named on April 10.

She added that junior players who do not make the final squad would continue with their training here.