KUALA LUMPUR – The national hockey team manager, Datuk Mirnawan Nawawi, hopes to regain the trust of the Road to Gold (RTG) committee by securing a spot at the 2024 Paris Olympics through next year’s qualifiers.
His response comes after the Speedy Tigers were removed from the programme for failing to win a gold medal at the recent Asian Games, which would have secured a ticket to the Olympics, in addition to falling to 12th in the world rankings.
Speaking to Scoop, Mirnawan said that he accepts the committee’s decision and has pledged to address the shortcomings of his players before the qualifiers.
“I need to admit that we performed poorly in the Asian Games, which significantly affected our rankings.
“I fully accept the committee’s decision as they have been fair throughout. We didn’t meet the criteria set by them to be part of the existing programme, which requires us to be in the top 10 in the world rankings.
“We were included in the programme the last time because we were ranked 10th in the world. Since our ranking has dropped now, it’s time for our coaches and players to take this matter seriously and start working on improving our flaws.
“However, it’s not the end of the world for us. We will use the Olympic qualifiers as the main platform to prove our worth and potentially regain our spot in this programme.
“I believe that our ranking will improve after we secure qualification for the Olympics,” Mirnawan said during a visit to the National Sports Council in Bukit Jalil today.
Meanwhile, Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh said that the decision to remove the hockey team from the programme is not final, and the Speedy Tigers still have a chance to be part of the programme if they can prove themselves.
“There is still hope for hockey. We will be monitoring all the athletes’ performance every three months, and there is a high possibility of reintroducing them into the programme if they secure qualification at the Olympic qualifiers in Muscat or Valencia in January next year,” Hannah said.
Malaysia finished sixth in the Asian Games and missed a direct Olympic qualification slot after their 5-2 defeat to Pakistan.
Malaysia’s hopes now centre on hockey’s Olympic qualifiers scheduled to take place from January 15 to 21 in Oman and Spain.
The Speedy Tigers are currently ranked 12th in the world rankings with 1881.90 points. – October 31, 2023