Malaysia’s Ice Hockey team manage to win 5-2 against Kuwait match in Division IV, at the International Ice Hockey World Championship 2022, organized by International Ice Hockey Federation at Kyrgyzstan on 3rd March 2022.
Muhammad Fareez Afdlin manage to score 3 goals for the team, while Gabriel Goh Juan Jie and Mohammad Hariz scored a goal each as well.
The team, with a strong 19-players who are home-grown were selected to go to Kyrgyzstan, representing Malaysia for the first international championship in 2022.
The championship sees countries participating from Singapore, Kyrgyzstan , Kuwait and Iran where Kyrgyzstan is the favorites to win the championship.
A Brief Story of Malaysia Team
The Malaysia team is led by former national captain Gary Tan, a player who has years of experience playing at a high level and has coached at the local and international levels for the sports.
The building block of this home-grown players was based on the coach assessment of their skill level, experience, commitment, and attitude.
Here are the list of the players:
Aaron Goh Chu Ern
Adam Harith Bin Mohammad Noor
Adrian Chow Meng Yenn
Aiman Zul Rafiq Bin Mohd Fadzul
Andika Rees Pahamin Bin Azhar
Austin Goh Chu Shern
Eugene Low Ju Hong
Gabriel Goh Juan Jie
Mohammad Hariz (A)
Muhammad Asyraaf Haikal Bin M.Haikal
Muhammad Fareez Afdlin
Muhammad Syukri Bin Shaharudin
Muhd Amin Aisar Bin Muhd Fadzli Amin
Nurul Badrul Arie Versluis (C)
Nurul Nizam Deen Versluis
Raja Karim Adli Bin Raja Amin
Stephen Prakash (A)
Syed Ayman Shahabuddin
Timothy Ong Zhan Fei
Base on a short discussion with the Team General Manager – Chee Ee Laine, here is what she has to say:
“Kyrgyzstan is the clear favorite, while Iran and Singapore could be the dark horses. We always have a good showing playing against Kuwait and we expect that to happen in this tournament as well.”
“For our team, we’ve said that we want to compete. Results are of course a great indicator of success and we strive for that as well. We have a good mix of young and experienced players and we expect the team to do their best.”
When asked about the aims/goals to achieve in the Championship:
With the format, there is no outright semifinals or finals. However, the schedule is set up as such that our final game is projected to be the bronze medal game. We hope to best Singapore in that game.
However in the upcoming match, they will be facing favorites Kyrgyzstan on the 5th of March 2022, which might be an interesting match to look out.
As for the match against Singapore, it will be on 8th of March 2022, another must watch match to see the outcome of these teams playing.
With their first game win at the Championship, we are hoping for the best for the team. We wish them all the best at the Kyrgyzstan!