Short training stint before juniors leave for Poland

The team can only train for three days as the players will only be able to assemble after the Malaysia Hockey League preliminary round ends on Aug 11. The final selection of the team has been set for Aug 14 and the team leave for Poland on Aug 16. At the team management meeting yesterday, the MHF decided that junior players who played in the South Africa Champions Challenge will not be considered for the tournament. Four players who played in South Africa are P. Prabhakaran, Ismail Abu, Azlan Misron and Riduan Nasir. However, Azli Misron who also went has been included in the training squad. Megat Azrafiq who failed to land a place in the Champions Challenge team due to a knee injury will also join the Poland-bound training squad. He has fully recovered from the injury and is expected to make the final team. MHF deputy president Tan Sri P. Alagendra who chaired the meeting said that Azli was included as he did not play in any of the matches in South Africa The Malaysians won the tournament in Poland last year. This year eight teams will be involved – Poland's Under-21, Poland's Division 1 champions, Malaysia, Germany, India, Pakistan, France and Egypt.