KUALA LUMPUR, March 29 — Indonesia and Thailand are considered to be the main rivals for the national men’s indoor hockey squad at the Cambodia SEA Games this May.

Head coach Mohd Hanif Che Halim said the Indonesian squad is now managed by former national squad coach Muhammad Dharma Raj Abdullah who is taking on the responsibility as the technical director of the Indonesian hockey team.

"At the Asian Cup (last year), we played against Indonesia and had seen their tactics. Back from the Asian Cup, the Indonesian team started training and have gone on a series of tours to two or three countries.

"So we will have to change our game a little, vary it, not use the old tactics because they are familiar with it. We will try to be more aggressive,” he said when met by reporters during his squad’s training session here.

In August last year, Malaysia created history when they won the 2022 Asia Cup Indoor Hockey Championship after defeating defending champions Iran, 3-2 through a penalty shootout in the final in Bangkok.

Mohd Hanif, who won gold medals at the 2017 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games and the 2019 Philippines edition, said the national team is scheduled to leave for Perth, Australia for friendly matches from April 9 to 19 and the final list of 12 players will only be made after the tour series.

Meanwhile, women’s team coach Mohd Badrul Hisham Osman is determined to defend the gold medal the national team won at the 2019 Philippine SEA Games.

He said that although the training period was short, he was optimistic that the national women’s team were ready and able to retain the championship, given the team’s dedication.

"We have three to four senior players and our main rivals are Thailand and Indonesia who seem fully prepared,” he said.

Both the men’s and women’s indoor hockey teams swept the gold medals at the 2019 Philippines SEA Games. — Bernama