SOJC 2024: Young Tigers Need To Put On A Good Show  – Vikneswaran

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 10 (Bernama) -- The national junior men's hockey squad have been urged to display honorable and proud performances at the 12th edition of the Sultan Johor Cup (SOJC) 2024, which will take place from Oct 19 to 26 at the Taman Daya Hockey Stadium, Johor.

National junior squad head coach, I. Vikneswaran, however, is not setting specific targets for SOJC 2024 to avoid putting pressure on his players, instead focusing on game time as preparation for the Junior Asia Cup 2024 in November, which also serves as the qualifier for the Junior World Cup 2025.

"Personally, of course, I want the best at SOJC, but we are taking it one step at a time. We need to play with honour and pride, but not give unnecessary pressure to the players and ourselves.

"Of course, pressure is important because success happens due to pressure, but that pressure must be manageable. For example, penalty corner pressure is something that we can manage, but unnecessary pressure is something within our control,” he told a press conference at the National Hockey Stadium, Bukit Jalil, today.

Vikneswaran informed that SOJC 2024 will be the first platform for his players, who only began centralised training in early September, to compete in a tournament after previously only participating in friendly matches.

Therefore, he believes it is fairer to set expectations for his players at the Junior Asia Cup 2024 based on their performance at SOJC 2024.

"The 20 best players identified will be sent to SOJC, but we will reassess whether they can handle pressure situations for the Junior Asia Cup 2024," he said.

When asked about the presence of Pakistan hockey legend Sohail Abbas, who has been listed as one of the assistant coaches for SOJC 2024, Vikneswaran said input from the world's top scorer would certainly help the team in facing the tournament.

However, he admitted that it is difficult to implement major changes in the team since Sohail only joined the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) in early October.

"So far, we have conducted three sessions with Sohail, and he can help ensure that every penalty corner attempt can lead to a goal. In this tournament, we face five teams that are no pushovers.

"But I trust my players because they have the fighting spirit that won’t allow defeat easily. The challenge now is how we manage everything as a cohesive unit," he said.

The national junior men's team will open their SOJC 2024 round-robin campaign against New Zealand on Oct 19, followed by Japan (Oct 20), India (Oct 22), Great Britain (Oct 23), and conclude the competition with a match against Australia on Oct 25.

-- BERNAMA