Tengku Abdullah wants Malaysia to win on home turf for Asia Cup

The National hockey squad must seize the opportunity of playing on home turf (Azlan Shah Hockey Stadium in Ipoh) to win the Asia Cup 2013, which will be held from Aug 24 to Sept 1.

The champion of the Asia Cup 2013 in Ipoh will represent Asia in the World Cup that will feature 12 of the best teams in the world at The Hague, Holland from June 2 to 15, next year.

Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) President Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah said there was no reason for the National squad to not perform well because the local fans would be strongly backing the team as well.

"I hope the players will realise how important the Asia Cup competition is. We have never won the title in the history of Malaysian hockey. If possible, we want to break that jinx.

"With a combination of talented new players and experienced campaigners, we have a good chance of winning. This is the team's best chance to showcase their talent," he told reporters after handing out incentives for the men's hockey team, here, Wednesday.

Tengku Abdullah hoped National coach Paul Revington would be able to identify and rectify the weaknesses of players before the tournament.

He described the fifth place finish at the World Hockey League in Johor Baharu recently, as a splendid achievement.

Tengku Abdullah who acknowledged the fact that beating World and Olympic champion Germany who eventually beat Argentina 4-2 in the final of the World Hockey League, would be a mammoth task, it cannot be an excuse to continue losing.

"Losing to the world champion cannot be used as an excuse but rather we must continue to perform consistently. It doesn't matter if we are playing a strong or weak team but we must keep improving in every match," he said.

In the 2009 Asia Cup held in Kuantan, Pahang, the National squad finished in fourth place after losing 6-7 to China on penalties since regulation time had ended in a 3-3 draw.

For the record, Malaysia has played six times in the World Cup since 1973 and the best position was a fourth place finish in 1975 while in the 2002 edition played in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia finished in eighth place and since then has yet to qualify for the World Cup.