KUALA LUMPUR: The underperforming national men's senior and junior hockey teams have closed up shop.
The Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) announced today that the two squads have been disbanded.
The seniors, under coach A. Arul Selvaraj, failed to qualify for the Paris Olympics in July while the juniors, coached by Amin Rahim, fared poorly in the Junior World Cup in Bukit Jalil last month.
The senior team, who flopped at the Hangzhou Asian Games last September, were again a letdown at the recent Olympic Qualifier in Muscat, Oman, even losing 3-2 to China.
The juniors finished a disappointing 12th out of 16 teams in the Junior World Cup in their backyard.
MHC president Datuk Seri Subahan Kamal announced in a press conference that they are disbanding the men's senior and junior teams.
"We want to rebuild both the teams. A new set of players will be selected after the Malaysia Hockey League which ends on March 9.
"The national senior team's next assignment is the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Ipoh (May 4-11). They will also feature in the Nations Cup in Gniezno, Poland, from May 31 to June 9."
While the axe fell on the two men's squads, the national women's team, coached by Nasihin Nubli, were spared because they have a programme until the 2026 Nagoya Asian Games.
"The contracts of all national men's and women's coaches have expired, and the coaching committee will select a new setup of coaches," said Subahan.
He said the new head coach for the men's national team will be named in one month's time.
"The new coaches will come up with their programmes for both the national men's and women's teams."
Subahan said MHC is disappointed that Malaysia failed to qualify for the Paris Olympics.
"Arul (who has been the coach of the national men's team since July, 2020), needs to submit a report of the team's failure in the Olympics Qualifier this week as the coaching committee will meet this Sunday to discuss the
report.
"It's not easy to qualify for the Olympics as only 12 teams are allowed for the Games. And India is the only Asian country to feature in the Olympics. This shows that all the other teams in Asia are not good enough to qualify for the Olympics.
"I'm not giving excuses but FIH (world body) should relook the qualifying system for the Olympics, and we want to push FIH to increase the number of teams to 16, like the World Cup."
