Beng Hai’s team still have long way to go before they can shine on world stage

As tests for the national hockey team, matches in the just concluded Sultan Azlan Shah Cup tournament here served their purpose.

The team chalked up some inspired results but in reality, they still have a long way to go before they can claim that they are strong challengers on the world stage.



In the five-nation tournament, Malaysia lost twice to India — 0-3 in the round-robin match and 1-3 in the final. They beat Pakistan (3-2) and Egypt (4-1) and drew 1-1 with New Zealand.

The tournament that counts for coach Tai Beng Hai and his team is the Asia Cup in Kuantan next month. It offers the champions a direct entry into next year’s World Cup Finals in India and the next four teams get berths in qualifying tournaments in November.

The stakes are much higher and Beng Hai did not push the players too hard in Ipoh for fear of seeing more players coming down with injury.

“I hope to have at least five players more back in the team when we resume training on Thursday. We need more options to work immediately on the weak areas identified in Ipoh,” he said.

“We have not been able to hold on to our lead in the matches and unforced errors kept creeping back at some points.

“On the plus side our fitness level is good. We have a lot of work to do in making sure our structure is in place.”

Forward S. Selvaraju aggravated his knee injury in the match against New Zealand. But Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin, Mohamed Radzie, Fikri Bassar, Sallehin Abdul Ghani and Megat Azrafiq, who were not in the team for the tournament in Ipoh, will be available for selection.

Beng Hai has worked with the players for only three months thus far and he does not have much time before the team go to Kuantan for the Asia Cup scheduled for May 9-16.

“I know expectations will be there but we need patience. The players are trying hard. I cannot complain about this and over time, the players have to come up with consistently good performances,” he said.

In the eight-team Asia Cup, Pakistan and India are not in the same group as Malaysia but they have South Korea and Japan to contend with in the preliminary round. And asking the team to win the tournament is certainly a tall order.