By Anne Das
National hockey coach A. Arul Selvaraj is counting on playing time acquired by players in the squad to make up for the loss of experience of players who failed to make the squad owing to injuries.
This morning in Ipoh, Arul named his squad of 18 players for the 29th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup 2022 tournament starting on Tuesday, where he had dropped three players from the squad of 21 he had.
The three dropped after careful evaluation of the players current status based on performance are, goalkeeper Albert Adrian, defender Syarman Mat and striker Norsyafiq.
Arul in his squad of 18 has two goalkeepers, five defenders, five midfielders and six strikers.
Two players who had just returned from injury, defender Faiz Helmi (ankle injury) and forward Syafiq Sumantri (adductor injury) survived the cut as Arul saw them fit to be in the team.
“Although they were injured they continued to train with the team in other aspects like gym work, rehabilitation programme and fitness and strength,” said Arul.
Earlier key players, captain Marhan Jalil and Shahril Saaban were also ruled out because of injuries.
“All the injured players are in Ipoh undergoing treatment and recovery training, as they are part of the squad with the hope that they will be available for upcoming tournaments, Nations Cup in Potchefstroom, South Africa, from Nov 28-Dec 4 and the World Cup in January and Asian Games in Hangzhou in September,” added Arul.
Arul also named the team captain as Muhammad Najmi Farizal Jazlan.
Najmi however had to return to his home in Perlis early this morning after getting news that his father-in-law had passed away.
But he will be back tonight (last night) or tomorrow (today). The team has an off day tomorrow (Sunday).
“When we got news that Najmi’s father-in-law passed away, we told him to return to Perlis to make the necessary arrangements and be with his wife. It is best he went because otherwise he will not have peace of mind and his family might be unhappy with him too,” said team manager Datuk Mirawan Nawawi.
“Now when he returns and finds out that he has been named captain, I am sure will be highly motivated,” he added.
Arul added that Najmi was the right choice in the absence of Marhan as he is a good leader, a motivator and understands the game well.
There was strong speculation that the most capped and senior player, defender Razie Rahim, would be named captain.
“Razie is indeed a strong leader and whether he is captain or not, he plays a key role in leading the team and will partner with Najmi to do well together from the back,” added Arul.
“Besides, we have eight players in the team who have strong leadership qualities and each one of them will be playing their role as leaders as we play as a unit.”
THE SQUAD OF 18
| NO | NAME | POSITION | JERSEY NO |
| 1 | MUHAMMAD HAFIZUDDIN OTHMAN | GOALKEEPER | 21 |
| 2 | MOHD ZAIMI MAT DERIS | GOALKEEPER | 16 |
| 3 | MUHAMMAD RAZIE ABD RAHIM | DEFENDER | 17 |
| 4 | MUHAMMAD NAJMI FARIZAL JAZLAN | DEFENDER | 25 |
| 5 | MUHAMMAD SYAFIQ HASSAN | DEFENDER | 27 |
| 6 | ZULPIDAUS MIZUN | DEFENDER | 28 |
| 7 | MUHAMMAD AMINUDDIN MOHD ZAIN | DEFENDER | 12 |
| 8 | MUHAMMAD FIRHAN ASHAARI | MIDDLE | 13 |
| 9 | FAIZ HELMI JALI | MIDDLE | 18 |
| 10 | MEOR MUHAMMAD AZUAN HASSAN | MIDDLE | 20 |
| 11 | NIK MUHAMMAD AIMAN NIK ROZEMI | MIDDLE | 24 |
| 12 | MUHAMMAD AMIRUL HAMIZAN AZAHAR | MIDDLE | 29 |
| 13 | MUHAMMAD NAJIB ABU HASSAN | ATTACKER | 2 |
| 14 | NORSYAFIQ SUMANTRI | ATTACKER | 3 |
| 15 | MOHAMAD ASHRAN HAMSANI | ATTACKER | 8 |
| 16 | TENGKU NASRUL IKMAL TENGKU ABD RAHIM | ATTACKER | 14 |
| 17 | SHELLO SILVERIUS | ATTACKER | 15 |
| 18 | MUHAMMAD AZRAI AIZAD ABU KAMAL | ATTACKER | 23 |
MALAYSIA’S FIXTURES
| NO | DAY | DATE | MATCHES | TIME |
| 1. | TUESDAY | 1 NOV 2022 | MALAYSIA VS KOREA | 8:00 PM |
| 2. | WEDNESDAY | 2 NOV 2022 | PAKISTAN VS MALAYSIA | 8:00 PM |
| 3. | FRIDAY | 4 NOV 2022 | SOUTH AFRICA VS MALAYSIA | 8:00 PM |
| 4. | SATURDAY | 5 NOV 2022 | MALAYSIA VS EGYPT | 8:00 PM |
| 5. | MONDAY | 7 NOV 2022 | MALAYSIA VS JAPAN | 8:00 PM |
