Sang-ryul is ready but he wants a clear-the-air session with MHF first

South Korean Kim Sang-ryul is ready to take charge of the Malaysian hockey team but there is a catch — he wants a clear-the-air session with the Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) before commiting himself.

Sang-ryul admitted that there had overtures from “certain people” in Malaysia before adding that further talks were being planned to discuss his role in detail.

“For sure I’m now available to take up a coaching job outside China. There have been several offers and I’m looking at all options,” he said in a telephone interview yesterday.

“Malaysia have a young and talented set of players. There is no question that they have the ability to improve. I will need to know the exact nature of the job and also what sort of control they (MHF) can give me in moulding the side.”

Sang-ryul was the coach of the Chinese team who finished 11th out of 12 teams in the recent Beijing Olympics.

He was also the South Korean men’s team coach for 12 years from 1988-2000 before taking charge of their women’s team for four years (2000-2004).

Sang-ryul is credited with raising the standard of hockey in South Korea and has a reputation of being a strict disciplinarian.

The move to get Sang-ryul is being led by the National Sports Council (NSC), who are not happy with the national team’s performance.

Malaysia, coached by Sarjit Singh, are ranked 15th in the world after failing to qualify for the Beijing Games — the third major tournament that the Malaysians had missed out on since 2004.

They failed to get past the Madrid Olympic qualifiers in 2004 under German coach Paul Lissek and again failed to qualify for the 2006 World Cup under coach Wallace Tan.

A final decision on Sang-ryul’s appointment is expected to made when the MHF hold their first council meeting next Saturday.