Three junior players to make senior debut in four-nation tournament

KUALA LUMPUR: Three players will make their senior international hockey debut for Malaysia in a four-nation tournament, which begins today in Dalian.

They are goalkeeper Abdul Hakim Adnan, defender Mohd Herman Pawi and forward Mohd Azzami Adabi.

Abdul Hakim and Azzami featured in the Junior World Cup Finals last year and they were called up for senior national team training after the Razak Cup tournament in Kuantan in May.

Veteran goalkeeper Roslan Jamaluddin, who earned a recall to the team for his performances for Perak in the Razak Cup, was also named for the outing in China. The last time the 32-year-old represented the country was in the 2006 Doha Asian Games.

Team manager George Koshy said that they had a pool of 35 players in the training squad and they wanted to try out all them in tournaments.

“The objective is to assemble the best team for the Asian Games (in Guangzhou in November). We hope to win the gold medal, which will give us a direct entry to the 2012 London Olympics,” he said.

George added that they were not setting any targets in the four-nation tournament for their team of youth and experience.

“But we hope to see players like Abdul Hakim, Herman and Azzami giving their best. We have four goalkeepers in the training squad and we want to look at how Roslan fares in a tournament,” he said.

The other two goalkeepers in the team, S. Kumar and Khairulnizam Ibrahim, will stay home this time.

Malaysia open their campaign against Russia today followed by matches against Pakistan tomorrow and China on Saturday. The final and playoff for the third place will be held on Sunday.

Goalkeepers: Abdul Adnan Hakim, Roslan Jamaluddin.

Defenders: Mohd Razie Abdul Rahim, Mohd Madzli Ikmar, Mohd Amin Rahim, Baljit Singh Charun, Ahmad Kazamirul Nasruddin, Mohd Herwan Pawi, Azreen Rizal Nasir.

Midfielders: Tajol Rosli, Mohd Shahrun Nabil, Mohd Marhan Mohd Jalil, Mohd Sukri Abdul Mutalib.

Forwards: Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin, Hafifihaziz Hanafi, Azlan Misron, Mohd Amerullah Abdul Aziz, Mohd Azzami Adabi.