National Juniors among 15 teams for Razak Cup tourney

The National Juniors are among a record 15 teams for the Razak Cup hockey tournament, which will be held at the Tun Razak Stadium here from Aug 2-10.

Entries closed yesterday and only three teams will not feature in the tournament – Terengganu, Sabah and Sarawak.

The Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) secretary, Hashim Mohamed Yusof, said that the juniors were included at the request of the team management.

“Although they are newcomers to the tournament, we have decided to place them in Division One to give them better quality matches as part of their preparations for the Junior World Cup next year,” he said.

“We will retain the two-division format. With the inclusion of the juniors there will be seven teams in Division One.”

Sixteen-time champions Kuala Lumpur will be making a return to Division One after a three-year lapse.

KL did not play in the 2005 and 2006 tournaments.

They returned to the fold last year and had to play in Division Two, winning it to gain promotion.

Last year’s tournament in Kuantan featured 12 teams and those making a comeback this year are Kedah, Perlis and Police.

Hashim added that a few matches would be held at either the KL Hockey Stadium or the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil.

He also said that players in the national training squad would also be allowed to represent their state sides.