C'wealth Games: Malaysia look at beating India, England
Published on: Saturday, March 24, 2018
Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia will be going all out to beat India and England in the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia to improve to improve the country's world ranking, which currently is 12th.The squad under coach Stephen Van Huizen (pic) have been given an initial target to at least advance to the semi-finals in the competition which will be held April 4 to 17.Stephen said that besides being drawn together with sixth ranked India and England (seventh), Malaysia should also be wary of the opposition to be given by Pakistan (13th) and Wales (24th).
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"Of course, every championship we go to we want to achieve the best, we want to get a medal. We are expecting Malaysia to face a stiff challenge but we will try to make sure Malaysia will be doing well to step into the semi-finals."The Commonwealth Games are important for the national team as a warm-up before starting action in the Asian Games. So we need to perform well in the Commonwealth Games and subsequently to win at the Asian Games to enable Malaysia to qualify for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, "he told a Podium Programme press conference at the National Sports Institute (ISN) Friday.At the Commonwealth level, Malaysia are ranked sixth, Australia top ranked, followed by India, New Zealand, England and Canada.
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National hockey player, Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin Tengku Abdul Jalil said the Podium Programme under ISN provided a lot of more specific exposure in terms of sports science, which helped to boost the performance of the national team.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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For the record, the best achievement of the national hockey team at the Commonwealth Games was when Malaysia hosted it in 1998 and won the silver medal while in 2006 in Melbourne, Australia, Malaysia won the bronze medal after they defeated England. – Bernama
