KUALA LUMPUR: Can four veterans form the nucleus of the newly formed national men's hockey team?
The four seniors are goalkeeper Hafizuddin Othman, 32, defender Marhan Jalil, 34, and the Saari brothers, forward Faizal, 33 and midfielder Fitri, 31.
Chief coach Sarjit Singh has called up 46 players for the first phase of national training which started on Tuesday.
Sarjit is counting on the four seniors to be the backbone of the team, using their experience and expertise to guide the others.
Fitri said it will be a big responsibility for him. "We, four, have faith in coach Sarjit. But it's not going to be easy as there are not many seniors in the national team.
"The juniors have the energy but they lack experience. We will share our knowledge with them.
"The juniors need to mature fast in their game to be able to play in high-level tournaments.
"They need to improve in physical and mental aspects when we play strong teams, especially against European nations.
"Don't be afraid of them. Instead we must prove that we can play better than European teams.
"There are many juniors in the training squad as this is a long-term programme, especially for the 2026 Asian Games to qualify for the 2028 Olympics.
"I trained with coach Sarjit in the Terengganu team in the Malaysia Hockey League, and he has 200% faith in his players.
"He always motivates and guides us to play well in matches," said Fitri during the first day of training at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil.
The four seniors will be relied on to guide their younger teammates at the six-nation Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Ipoh from May 4-11.
