The national coaches, have for some unknown reasons, opted to leave them out of the list of trainees for the Commonwealth and Asian Games.
But life goes on for Chua Boon Huat, Mohd Sallehin Abd Ghani and Mohd Rodhanizam Mat Radzi as they will depart to play in the Austrian league. Ironically another discard, S. Selvarajoo is plying his trade in the French League. However Sallehin's participation will only be confirmed should he get a release from his employers TNB.
So while these players are not appreciated here, clubs in Europe, though those who are not top hockey playing nations, have offered these players a chance to gain more experience and in the process improve their hockey in the next one month.
While the prerogative on selecting players for the national team is left to the coaches, looking at the list of players in the national team has raised several questions. To be fair to the coaches, I have not sought any clarification from them as I will be given the standard answer, talk to the MHF, who in turn will tell me to talk to the Manager, and fail to tell me which Manager to talk to, there you have it, the maze confuses you and me alike.
So coming back to the selection, if the coaches felt that they are building a team for the future, then how come the likes of Roslan Jamaluddin, Tajul Rosli, Mohd Amin Rahim and Mohd Madzli Ikmar are still in the squad. And this is where former national skipper S. Kuhan is amused.
"If they wanted experienced players, then they should have re-called me as well. And players like Chua can still contribute towards our quest in making it to the London Olympics," said Kuhan.
"So really I cannot understand the rationale as the process of building a team to play in the Olympics should start now, and that means giving some youngsters more exposure over the next two years.
"We are know that automatic qualification via the Asian Games will be difficult so why not build a team over the next 20 months or so for the Olympic Qualifiers.
"If the senior players are being earmarked to play in the Commonwealth Games, then why not bring in Chua, Suhaimi (Ibrahim) and me as well so we can guide the younger players."
Another baffaling issue is the non consideration of Mohd Salehin who did not play the closing stages of the MHL due to injury and also skipped the Tun Razak Cup. If selection was based on the Razak Cup, then Jiwa Mohan too should have been left out. The fact that two injured players, Baljit Singh and Kelvinder Singh were considered leaves questions unanswered.
It is learnt that Tajol has yet to join the team in training due to an issue of los in income. Tajol falls under the category of players that did not win medals hance he will only receive RM500 as his monthly allowance while other players get RM1,5000 a month. This is policy set by NSC and MHF has opted to follow it, but rightfully MHF should have their own scheme as exerienced players tend to lose out.
Other players that played well in the Razak Cup, in the likes of Imail Abu and Megat Azrafiq have also been given the cold shoulder by the coaches. No doubt there are factors attributing to why some players have been left out, but if it the match fixing allegation, then one of the players in the current team also should not be there. Unless its two different set of rules used, and that will not come as a surprise.
