Everybody knows that I am a sports enthusiast. In fact I am also very patriotic. Living in this country for over 20 years Ive seen the country having potential in creating world class sportsmen. Unfortunately, these fellows are not receiving enough coverage from the media. Thus finances are often not pumped enough into sports development of the country.Almost everybody in Malaysia knows about football. The sad thing is, they aren’t doing well internationally. I believe there are many talented players in the country. But football just don’t pay enough in this part of the world.

Ever wondered what contact sports do Malaysians excel?

Enough said about football. Have anyone ever wondered what contact sports(that leaves out badminton, squash and bowling) do Malaysians excel?

Ladies and gentlemen, let me open your eyes. Malaysia has world class(yes… world class)hockey players. And most of us don’t even realize it. I believe this is one of the few sports that proves that asians can also do well in a contact sports.

Let me tell you the facts. In football, Malaysia has never ever qualified for any big tournament in world stage. In men’s hockey, Malaysia is amongst the few team that can pose a challenge to the some of big teams around. We aren’t the strongest, but we are still good at the world stage. We played in the World Cup and qualified for the Olympics.

Though recently our men disqualified for the world cup, do not forget that we actually got the bronze in the latest Commonwealth Games. Amongst the Commonwealth countries are powerhouse like Australia, England, India and Pakistan. These are some of the strongest teams in the world.

The recent asian games was a disappointment for Malaysia as they failed to qualify for the semi-finals. But at this level we are disappointed not because we are not good enough, but because we failed to hit the expectations. To me it ain’t too bad cos we almost beaten Pakistan(we drew 1-1 because of defensive error. India and Pakistan is the hockey equivalent of Brazil). On our good days, we can even stun former champions, India 3-2 in the hockey world cup 2002.

We have world class players

Malaysian Hockey players are world class. In the past we have Mirnawan Nawawi(picture above left), Lim Chow Chuan, Shankar Shanmugam, Nor Saiful Zaini and Nor Azlan Bakar. Present day players includes names like the versatile Chua Boon Huat(my favourite), S.Kuhan(penalty corner specialist), Keevan Raj, Logan Raj, Kelvinder Singh and a few more rising stars on the line. Some of our players are good to the level that they even play professionally overseas. Chua Boon Huat (picture right) played in England for Teddington HC and is going to play again this year. S.Kuhan is probably going to play in PHL(Premier Hockey League-the indian hockey league. I can’t recall all but I know that there are many others whom have plied their trade in foreign leagues where the standards are high.

Our players can do high level individual skills in world hockey(the best part is, they’re not paid to play).

In the Melbourne 2006 commonwealth games, according to the media, Chua Boon Huat scored one of the best goals in the tournament against South Africa(2-1). He put Malaysia ahead after dribbling past three defenders(can u believe it?)
hit a powerful backhand flick to beat the goalkeeper.

Another example that i can recall is Keevan Raj(picture below left) during the same commonwealth games, dribbling pass 3 players with one hand, which is rare in world hockey. Usually this is done by Indians or Pakistanis.

Our hockey players have good ethics and serve as a good example to us. Not much disciplinary problem. They are well balanced. They play sports and can still manage to do well academically. S.Kuhan(picture below right), the former national captain
and penalty corner specialist is a systems engineer by profession(don’t believe me then do your research). Nor Azlan Bakar completed his degree in religious studies.

We have good organization

Malaysian Hockey Federation(MHL) is well known in the world circuit. Our president, Sultan Azlan Shah is also the Asian Hockey federation president. Thanks to him, Malaysian hockey has been able to develop to this stage. In my opinion the Perak Sultan, is one of the few big shots whom is sincere in developing sports. Malaysia needs more of this sort of people.

We have good local league

We can be proud that our country have a good local league. We have a league that is able to attract some of the big names in hockey like Dhanraj Pillai of india(a hockey genius who played for Sapura in the MHL). There were other foreigners from Pakistan and South Korea playing in our country as well. We not only have a senior league, but a very strong junior league, the Malaysian Junior Hockey League(MJHL). It is not surprising that our country can produce many rising stars and young talents such as Zulkifli Rejab, Baljit Singh, Sufian, Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin and others.

Every year Malaysia organizes the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Bukit Jalil. This  tournament attracts some of the best teams in the world. It not just a normal friendly tour thing, but it is one of world hockey’s big tournaments. It is recognized by FIH(the FIFA equivalent of Hockey) in their annual events calendar.

Conclusion

Its easy  criticizing our country for lack of talent in sports without doing prior research. But hey… think about it again. Hockey is a big sports which is matured and well developed. The sports exist way before world war 1. And our name is in it. Shouldn’t these guys be given more credit rather than criticism. The media should give more coverage on our local hockey scene. Our boys can certainly play.

I blogged about this because I feel that someone needs to give these guys some credit. Hopefully more people will tune their eyes to Malaysian hockey.

MALAYSIA BOLEH !!!