Malaysia seeks assistance from Netherlands to develop hockey
In a bid to improve the hockey structure in the country, Malaysia is thinking to seek help from Netherlands. In the initial stage, the Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) is looking to send a few players in the Dutch league for getting experience. At the same
time, the federation is also considering to affiliate the local clubs with the Dutch trainers.
It is vital to mention here that Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, the President of the MHF, had held a meeting with Johan Walkkie, the Chief Executive Officer of Dutch Hockey, to discuss the modalities of the project.
Maninderjit Singh, the Secretary of the MHF, while speaking to the media personnel stated that they held a side-line meeting with the Dutch officials to discuss the idea which had been discussed by the President of the Federation earlier. He further explained
the meeting’s points saying that they had sought assistance from Netherlands in various programmes. They wanted not only to improve the performance of the national squad and trainers, but also build a reorganised hockey structure from a grass-root level.
He stated, “For a country with a population of just over 6.4 million they have almost 250,000 hockey players. They have a vast club structure and almost each club own a turf. We hope to conduct a study tour to Holland sometime soon and get more details on
their structure. It is not about copying it but to learn and utilise their winning strategies.”
The Federation’s Secretary was of the opinion that though the matters have been finalised with the Dutch authorities and these projects would be launched before the 2012 London Olympics. The authorities concerned from Netherlands have expressed their consent
and are ready to give assistance in other areas as well.
Maninderjit maintained that currently they are fixing their eyes on the Australian Hockey League (AHL) to train their players. It is worth mentioning here that two players namely Mohamed Shukri Mutalib and Faisal Saari had donned the colours of AHL session
held last week in Perth and Hobart.
He, however opined that Netherlands league is a more competitive tournament, as players from all regions including Australia, India and Pakistan, partake in the famous events. The Malaysian players will not have chance to contest the Dutch league this year,
which is scheduled to be held in September, as they have a lot of games in the hockey calendar.
In addition to this, the office bearers of MHF during a meeting in Amsterdam made a bid to organise the International Hockey Federation Congress. Amazingly, they succeeded in their proposal and FIH Congress will be held from October 31 to November 04, 2011
in Kuala Lumpur.
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