FAIZAL CONFIDENT HE'S NAILED A PLACE IN SULTAN AZLAN SHAH CUP SQUAD

KUALA LUMPUR, April 25 (Bernama) -- National hockey hotshot Faizal Saari is confident he will make the 18-man squad for the May 4-11 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Ipoh, Perak.

The 33-year-old is upbeat about his chances seeing that national head coach Sarjit Singh has only named four senior players in the Speedy Tigers’ training squad ahead of the prestigious tournament.

He said that he is excited about the chance to play in the tournament again since he last featured in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in 2019.

"I think I'm a shoo-in because the coach only named four seniors and I have no injury problems, so I feel I'm definitely in.

"It's been three years since I last played in the tournament. Now, with this new team, filled with young, energetic players, I will help out as much as I can,” he told reporters after their final training session at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil here today.

Faizal, who only joined the national squad training on Tuesday (April 23), feels that the team are 85 per cent ready for their opening Sultan Azlan Shah Cup game.

He added that the team also seemed to have good chemistry despite most of the players being young.

"We will add the final touches to the team when we play two friendly games in Ipoh. I've trained with the team for three days and there's no problem with our combination,” he said.

World number 13 Malaysia will begin their Sultan Azlan Shah Cup campaign against three-time champions Pakistan on May 4 before taking on Canada on May 5, two-time champions New Zealand (May 7), Japan (May 8) and three-time champions South Korea (May 10).

The top two teams after the round-robin format will square off for the Cup while the third and fourth-placed teams will battle it out for third placing.

-- BERNAMA