Sabah to make MHL debut with young players

By Vikneswaran A/L Raman

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 3 -- Sabah will be very much focused on developing stars for the future when they make their debut next year in the Malaysian Hockey League (MHL), which started in 1987.

Former international I. Vikneswaran will be coaching the men’s team consisting of youngsters aged under 21, hoping to give big boys like Terengganu Hockey Team (THT), Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) and Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) a run for their money in the league, scheduled to run from Jan 8 to Feb 28.

However, promising stars from the national team, Shello Silverius, who played a crucial role in helping Sabah clinch their maiden 2018 Malaysian Games (Sukma) title in Perak, Abdul Khaliq Hamirin and Adrian Andy, who both performed well in the recent Tun Abdul Razak Cup, are likely to play with other clubs.

This means Vikneswaran will have to rely on the likes of hitman Muhajir Rauf, Herryzolly Peter, Granson Noel and Faiz Aiman Aseri to guide the youngsters in the Sabah team.

“The objective is to build a team for the future. Sabah now have produced a few talented players for the national team like junior team captain Shello and goalkeeper Adrian.

“I want to be realistic when setting targets; I do not want to put pressure on the team as this will be their maiden event. I want them to play their best and challenge for everything. It is okay to lose after giving all they have against superior teams,” Vikneswaran told Bernama.

The 46-year-old, who started his career as the UniKL founding head coach in 2009, had stints with Sapura Hockey Club in 2010 and THT, where he steered the East Coast side to a double in 2019, winning the Charity Shield and TNB Cup.

Vikneswaran, who is also the national 2026 project squad team manager, clarified that the Malaysian Hockey Confederation had decided that only the head coaches of the national teams were barred from coaching teams in MHL 2021.

“Only the men’s national team head coach (A. Arul Selvaraj), national women’s team head coach (Mohd Nasihin Nubli Ibrahim) and national men’s junior team coach (Wallace Tan) are not allowed,” he said.

The Sabah Hockey Association (SHA) has also appointed Olympian and former national youth coach Yahya Atan to coach the women’s team in next year’s MHL, after the ladies bagged silver in the previous Sukma.

-- BERNAMA