IPOH, March 2 — The national hockey team aims to finish better in the 27th edition of the Sultan Azlan Shah (SAS) Cup as compared to the previous year.
“We want to do better than last year and we want to improve our ranking. Last year we finished 5th and we want to improve that.
“This tournament is very important for our national team. It gives us the chance to play with top ranking teams,” national coach Stephen Van Huizen told reporters at a press conference at the Impiana hotel here.
Stephen said the team had prepared well for the tournament despite losing some of the important players, including the team captain Sukri Mutalib.
“We have lost Sukri and another three players due to injuries. But, we have a big squad and players who can substitute them.
“We definitely missed an experience player like Sukri, but it’s time for the youngster to step up and take the opportunity,” he said.
Speedy Tigers will compete without Sukri, who sustained hamstring injury, Amirul Arshad, who got into an accident, Izad Hakimi, knee injury and Ramadan Rosli injured while working out in the gym.
Stephen said Sukri will be replaced by Razie Rahim as the captain for the tournament.
“Razie is a very experienced player and he has been the team captain before.
“We also have players like Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin, Nabil Noor and Marhan Jalil, who can be leaders in the field,” he said.
Meanwhile, Razie said that the team is comfortable to be labeled as the underdogs following their low ranking as compared to other teams in the tournament.
“For me ranking is not a matter at all. We will do our best in all the games and will try to improve our weaknesses,” he said.
Six teams had taken part in this year’s SAS Cup, including world number one, Australia, Argentina (2nd), India (6th), England (7th), Ireland (10th) and Malaysia, who is currently ranked 12th in the world.
Argentina will meet India in the SAS Cup opener tomorrow at 4pm at the Stadium Azlan Shah.
Meanwhile, Malaysia will start their campaign facing Ireland at 8.30pm in the same venue.
