Bandar Seri Begawan - In the upcoming 3rd Borneo Games from Nov 29 to Dec 6, the Brunei men's hockey team will be aiming to retain their gold medal and may add another medal through the women's hockey team who will be contesting for the first time in the tournament.

In the previous Borneo Games, the Brunei men's hockey team beat Sarawak 2-1 to win the gold medal but this year the competition may be a tough journey for the Brunei squad.

Pengiran Haji Hassan bin Pg Anak Hashim, the manager of the Brunei hockey team and head coach Zulkifle bin Zainal in an interview expressed: "We know that Sarawak will again be sending their full squad comprising of nationals players and players who are training at the Bukit Jalil Sport School. No doubt they will give us a tough challenge but my squad are ready to give a good fight."

On the preparations, head coach Zulkifle said: "The squad are make up of a combination of players from Sukma Terengganu who have been involved in hockey for at least four years."

"We have been training continuously for the past months and since Oct 26 we have been conducting intensive centralised training. In recent months, we have participated in the AFF Cup in Singapore, Razak Cup in Malaysia and invitational games hosted in Brunei Darussalam. So, they are experienced players." he added.

Pengiran Haji Hassan also said: "With the ample preparations, I am confident that our men's squad can retain the gold medal again. Since it's the first time that the women's hockey team are participating in the Borneo Games, I hope that they can reach the semifinals."

Head coach Zulkifle also pointed out that some of the local forwards could be the stars of the hockey meet.

"Hafzi, Radhi, Ak Fidaus and Zikri are all good forwards who can create and score for the men's hockey team," he added.

In addition to hockey, there are another eight sports to be contested namely badminton, cue, gasing, pencak silat, takraw, tennis, athletics and lawn bowling. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Write comment

Name

Email

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment