KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 27 (Bernama) -- The organiser of the 2023 Men's FIH Hockey Junior World Cup have had to change their fixtures involving the national team to make way for the Malaysia Cup football final at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil on Dec 8.
The change involves coach Muhamad Amin Rahim's team's last Group A match against Australia at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil at 8 pm, which will now be played at 2 pm.
Competitions manager Brian Gerard Fernandez said the change was made after the advice by the police and agreed upon by the International Hockey Federation (FIH).
“We have two games at 6 pm and 8 pm which definitely clash with the Malaysia Cup (final), so we have moved those matches up to 12 pm and 2 pm...hopefully, by 5 pm we can clear this area.
“Because they have seen what it is like here during the qualifiers (World Cup), so it's massive here, so we cannot afford not to have the teams coming in on time... it’s the World Cup, we need them to be on time,” he said during a press conference here.
Apart from the Malaysia-Australia match, the one between Argentina and Chile that was supposed to be played at 6 pm has been brought forward to 12 noon while the morning matches involve Group B clashes between South Africa and France at 8 am and Germany versus Egypt at 10 am.
Malaysia will meet Chile on Dec 5 and Argentina on Dec 6.
The Malaysia Cup final on Dec 8 will see defending champions Johor Darul Ta'zim (JDT) take on Terengganu FC.
Meanwhile, competitions chairman Datuk Seri Dr Anil Jeet Singh said preparations for the Junior World Cup had reached 95 per cent and would be fully completed in two or three days.
Meanwhile, he hoped that local hockey fans would take advantage of the free entrance throughout the Junior World Cup campaign and give the national team their full backing.
He also said that Chile began the first country to arrive here on Saturday (Nov 25) and all 16 teams are expected to arrive by Dec 3 for the Junior World Cup, which will be held from Dec 5-16.
-- BERNAMA
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