KUALA LUMPUR: The national junior men’s hockey squad will embark on a European Tour Series for three weeks as preparation for the 2023 FIH Junior World Cup (JWC) from Dec 5-16 at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil.
The national squad that will depart tonight are scheduled to face a series of friendly matches against the best junior teams such as Germany, France and Great Britain.
Team manager Muhamad Amin Rahim said the selection of 22 players for the Tour Series was based on the performance shown by the players throughout the training sessions they have laboured through.
“The main purpose of this organised tour is to brace the players for important tournaments at the end of the year, namely the JWC and the prestigious 2023 Sultan of Johor Cup.
“The team have been immersed for eight weeks in the physical training phase and of course this friendly series will be used by us to assess the level of performance of the players at the moment,” he said in a statement today.
Amin said the tour series is crucial for the players to build a high level of confidence to hold their own against any team whether it is from Asia or Europe.
The junior squad kick off the series with two matches against Germany in Dusseldorf HC (Germany) on Aug 24-25, followed by France on Aug 30-31 at Le CREPS High-Performance Centre in Châtenay-Malabry (France).
The friendly tour series will conclude with two matches against Great Britain on Sept 5 at Bisham Abbey National Sports Centre in the United Kingdom. -Bernama
