National coach to be named in Jan

The Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) will announce the national team’s new coach early next month.

Its president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah said he had a list of names of several coaches from Asia, Europe and Australia.

“However, I cannot make any announcement yet as these coaches are still contracted to their respective countries.

“It will be announced once we have clearance,” he told reporters after officially opening a convention on astronomy here on Monday.

He also said all the candidates were foreigners, adding that the team had had Malaysian coaches prior to this and this change was being made based on the advice of the MHF and National Sports Council (NSC).

“Their approach, training and tactics may be different. They also have more experience in coaching,” he said of the foreign coaches.

Last month, it was reported that the MHF had decided not to renew the contracts of national coach Sarjit Singh and his assistants Gurmit Singh and Shahid Ali Khan, the last from Pakistan.

Sarjit and Gurmit’s contracts ended in December while goalkeeping coach Shahid’s had already expired.

Former South Korea coach Kim Sang-ryul has been widely tipped to take over as the Malaysian national coach.

The national senior team had come under fire following their failure to qualify for the Beijing Olympics.