Not one to mince his words, Malaysian Hockey Federation President Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah was being honest when he said that the performances of the national players in the ongoing Tun Razak Cup was alarming.
Having watched the Kuala Lumpur against Negri Sembilan match at the Wisma Belia Hockey Stadium, Tengku Abdullah said that he was concerned with the performances of the national players, after this Blogger posed him a question with regards to the lack of international matches for the national team since the World Cup Qualifiers last November in Invercargill.
" Honestly I am not too happy with the performances of the national players," said Tengku Abdullah after witnessing KL, with six national players in their ranks, struggle against a Negri side that fielded mostly veterans with only three national players.
"It is cause for concern as the players seem to be struggling and not playing to their ability. As for the lack of international matches after the qualifiers, this is something that I have told the team to address and I will announce the plans after the Council meeting on Saturday," said Tengku Abdullah.
KL, with six national players in their lineup struggled to stamp their class over Negri, where veterans Suhaimi Ibrahim, Chairil Anwar Abd Aziz and S.Kuhan were in their element throughout the match.
The MHF President was also honest enough to admit that the team will have it tough in the Asian Games to book an automatic spot in the 2012 London Olympics.
"I know that it will be tough and admit that an automatic spot will be difficult to come by," said Tengku Abdullah.
Asked if MHF was going to have a contingency plan, by requesting to host one of the Olympic Qualifiers scheduled for early 2012, Tengku Abdullah was coy about it, preferring to reveal any such plan after the meeting on Saturday.
