Hockey

Critics ask why Malaysia play B-grade Belgium in Europe

KUALA LUMPUR: It's like being treated to a B-grade movie after paying for an A-class show.

That was the response from critics after the national men's hockey team played Belgium B.

And it's not cheap to send the national team for a playing tour to Europe for two weeks.

The Malaysian Hockey Confederation sold us the story that the Speedy Tigers were to play six and one test matches, which will benefit coach Sarjit Singh and his team.

Many thought that Malaysia would play three friendlies against Olympic champions and world No. 3 Belgium.

But instead of taking on Belgium's first team, World No. 12 Malaysia ended up playing three friendlies with their B teams. Malaysia won the first match 3-2, lost the second 4-2 and won the third 3-2.

However, this has left Malaysian hockey fans feeling shortchanged. Does this really benefit the team in spending a veritable sum of money on them to go all the way to Europe to play a B team in friendlies?

Former Kuala Lumpur secretary V. Rajamanickam is not amused. He said it is not beneficial for Malaysia to the friendlies against Belgium B.

"Belgium only fielded their B team... what benefits can Belgium's main team get in playing against a lower-ranked Malaysian team?

"The FIH Pro League ended a week ago, and no coach is going to field their main team in friendlies and get their players injured just before the Paris Olympics.

"How can this benefit the Malaysian team when their opponents are not going to give 100 per cent n matches? It's just a waste of money and time playing friendlies, especially with B teams.

"Malaysia did not perform well in the Nations Cup in Poland last month and finished seventh out of nine teams.

"The national team should strengthen themselves locally like India before they go overseas for matches. They should play more matches against combined-clubs to improve their game," said Rajamanickam.

Sports analyst Datuk Dr Pekan Ramli said that when the Malaysian team travel to Europe, they need to play good quality matches.

"The national team need real competitive matches with top European teams which can benefit them.

"Beating a Belgium B team may sound good, but the actual fact is not beneficial to the national team as their opponents are not the key players of the team and it's not a real competitive match," said Pekan.

However, former Olympian Datuk Poon Fook Loke said it's still beneficial for Malaysia to be playing Belgium B especially for the rookies.

"Sarjit is building the national team, and some of the players have never played the European teams before. The tour is their chance to learn the European style of play and get exposure playing against European teams like Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.

"I believe coach Sarjit would have learnt from the Sultan Azlan Cup and the Four Nations Tournament that many of the 18 selected players are not fully equipped or comfortable to perform at international level for various reasons and especially with the new batch of younger boys coming into the national scene. Obviously the European Tour will provide him the opportunity to test the players' potential as to whether they can compete with more confidence with the fitter, more versatile and robust European players, not forgetting that the current top hockey nations are mainly from Europe."

Malaysia will play a test match against world champions and world No. 5 Germany tomorrow. Let's hope Germany are for real and not B-grade.

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