36-year-old Chairil wants to play for a couple more years

Chairil Anwar has featured for Maybank in the Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) for 17 years and he is not about to quit yet.

The 36-year-old forward felt that he is still good enough to play competitive hockey for another couple of years.



“I believe that I am the oldest player in the MHL but I am still fit and still enjoying the competition,’’ said Chairil, who retired from the national team in 2003 with 279 international caps.

“However, I am not satisfied with my performance in the MHL this season. I have only two goals to show from 10 league matches.”

Chairil added that he hoped to go on target against Nur Insafi in the quarter-final first-leg match at the USM pitch in Penang today.

“Nur Insafi have seven Indians and two Bangladeshis in their ranks and they are a strong side, improving with each match in the competition.

“We defeated them 5-2 in the first round of the league but they beat us by the same margin in the second round,” he said.

“We can expect a tough time against them tomorrow. They are fast with their counter attacks and we have to be on our toes. We also have to make full use of our chances to chalk up a good result in Penang.”

Besides Chairil, the other forwards in the Maybank team are Suhaimi Ibrahim, Hafifihafiz Hanafi and Hang Edzharsyah Hang Tuah.

In the six-team Division One, Maybank finished fourth, one rung above Nur Insafi.

The quarter-final ties were scheduled for Dec 5 and 7 but Nur Insafi requested for a postponement as their Indian players had to return home to play in the domestic league.

Maybank agreed to their request and the return match will be played on Saturday at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil.

The winners of the match will be up against league champions Ernst and Young in the semi-finals. The other semi-final is between defending overall champions Tenaga Nasional and Sapura.