Squad not resting on their laurels after Asia Indoor Hockey championships

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FOLLOWING their impressive outing in the Asia Indoor Hockey championship, the Malaysian women’s indoor hockey squad has started preparations for the qualifying tournament of the World Cup.

The qualifying tournament is scheduled to be held in Bangkok, Thailand, in July next year while the World Cup will be in Ponzan, Poland, in February 2011.

Can I do it?: Kanagi about to take a shot at goal while a teammate tries to stop her during a training session.

Malaysia, led by former international Nor Saliza Ahmad Soobni, emerged champions in the Asia Indoor Hockey championship. The result was commendable as the team had only about three weeks of training under R. Vivekanandan.

However, Vivekanandan said the team needed a more systematic training programme for the campaign in the qualifying tournament.

Although there has been no word from the Malaysian Women’s Hockey Association (MWHA) and the National Sports Council (NSC), the 12 players have started training.

Vivekanandan said the players gave a good account in the Asian Indoor Hockey championship.

“They are now looking forward to the qualifying tournament. They have to train regularly as the qualifying tournament will be tough. The women are showing a lot of enthusiasm and the MWHA and NSC have to give their blessings.

“Otherwise, it will be difficult for the players to prepare for the qualifying tournament,” Vivekanandan said.

Dangerous presence: Nor Saliza (left) in action during training.

Nor Saliza made her presence felt in the Asia Indoor Hockey competition and emerged as the top scorer with six goals. In the competition, Malaysia drew 1-1 with Iran but defeated Uzbekistan and Thailand 8-1 and 5-1 respectively. In the final, Malaysia, with Nor Saliza scoring a goal, defeated Kazakhstan 3-1 to win the title.

Nor Saliza said winning the Asia Indoor Hockey championship was the highest achievement for her.

Another international A. Kanagi, who scored two goals in the final, attributed Malaysia’s success to team work.

“The coach also played a big role in our preparations. He was dedicated and had volunteered to coach the team. It was indeed pleasing to win the gold medal with only three weeks of training,” Kanagi said.

Vivekanandan, a qualified indoor hockey coach who is now with the NSC coaching division, said Malaysia lacked facilities for indoor hockey.

All ears: The players getting instructions from coach Vivekanandan.

“We have only one indoor hockey pitch while Iran have 3,000,” he noted, adding that indoor hockey was popular in Iran, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan as they did not have any turf for field hockey.

“We will have to look into ways to have more indoor hockey pitches. An indoor hockey league would also be ideal as we have to create more players for the national team,” Vivekanandan said.

Meanwhile, the players – Nor Saliza, Kanagi, Ernawati Mahmud, Nur Hafizah Azman, Zalina Md Zahid, Nurul Nabiah Burhanudin, Nor Azlin Md Ali, Rosmah Asrin, Nor Akma Hashim, Norasyikin Md Shariudin, Nur Suhaili Sapie and Nor Izaidah Ibrahim – will contiune to train twice a week.