Kuhan named as national team's penalty corner advisor - MHC
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 29 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) has named former national men’s team skipper S. Kuhan as the penalty corner advisor to the national team.
Not only sharing his knowledge to players, MHC President Datuk Seri Subahan Kamal said Kuhan, who served on a part time basis, will also work together with the MHC National Team Management Committee chairman Datuk Ahmad Najmi Razak to source former international hockey greats to help solve the penalty corner issues faced by the Malaysian squad.
“As a former penalty corner specialist for Malaysia, Kuhan had agreed to come on board to help not only the men’s and women’s national teams but also our juniors as well but will be given a task to find solutions and how to get international experts to help us.
“We have already started to engage one or two ex hockey legends who had represented and helped their respective country to win Olympic Games medal and the World Cup, on a part time basis,” he told a press conference during the MHC executive board meeting here, today.
While acknowledging the fact that the Speedy Tigers had a low penalty corner conversion rate during the 2023 World Cup in India, Subahan felt that other teams had also struggled to score from such situations.
Based on the statistics from FIH, A. Arul Selvaraj’s side had only scored goals from the 29 penalty corners awarded to Malaysia throughout six matches they had played in the tournament.
Malaysia edged Japan 3-2 in the 13-16th qualification match to seal 13th spot in the 2023 World Cup, two spots better than the 15th placing during the 2018 edition, held also in India.
In the meantime, Subahan denied a social media post on Twitter that the former MHC chief executive officer (CEO) Norfaraha Hashim had resigned from the post.
Contrary to such a claim, he said that MHC had decided not to extend Norfaraha’s contract which had ended on Dec 31, 2022.
“As Malaysia will be the 2023 Men’s Hockey Junior World Cup host this December, we need to get someone who is equipped with vast knowledge of hockey to ensure the smooth operation of the MHC as well as to bring in funds to assist the MHC,” he said while thanking Norfaraha for her commitment and services as the CEO of MHC.
He also revealed that the MHC had accepted Prof Datuk Dr S. Shamala’s resignation as MHC deputy president last Friday and was forever in debt with her dedication towards them and national hockey development as a whole.
Citing health as the main reason for stepping down from the post that she has held since 2015, Shamala has served the national hockey scene for over two decades in different capacities, including as the MHC senior vice-president and Malaysian Women’s Hockey Association secretary.
-- BERNAMA
