Self-belief drives quest for hockey gold

As Team Singapore make their final preparations for the 28th SEA Games, TODAY explores the 36 sports the nation’s athletes will compete in as they look to improve on their 50-gold-medal haul in 1993, the last time the biennial event was held here. The focus today is on hockey.

SINGAPORE — With just four teams competing in the men’s hockey tournament at the 2015 SEA Games, Singapore are fully expected to add one more medal to their tally come the event’s final on June 13.

What the colour of that medal will be, however, is far less certain.

The minimum target for the Singapore men’s hockey team at the coming Games is a silver medal — anything less and it would be a “huge kick in the teeth”, according to head coach Solomon Casoojee.

But it is not the fear of failing to finish second that drives the team on. Instead, Casoojee and his charges have been toiling hard — they train twice a day, five days a week — over the past year for only one reason: To wrest the SEA Games gold from Malaysia’s near-unyielding grip.

It is an uphill task that has only been accomplished once in the history of the biennial event when Singapore, hosting the Games for the first time in 1973, stunned the Malaysians in the final to secure the gold.

With Malaysia, who are currently ranked 12th in the world, choosing to send their Under-20 team to the tournament in the Republic this year, there is genuine optimism that Singapore can upset the odds once again. And the hosts were given a boost in their quest for gold when 10 players from the 18-man squad were given the necessary support and funding from Sport Singapore’s “Final Push” programme to train full-time since last July.

While Casoojee says his team are “aiming for, but not promising a SEA Games gold”, he is confident his players have improved enough to give their rivals from across the Causeway a real run for their money.

“I think we’ve improved tremendously. The entire team is so much fitter and stronger now and we’re better placed (for the gold) than ever before, but it still won’t be easy,” the South African said. “They’re (Malaysia) a quality outfit with a good bunch of young lads who do the simple things right. But we know what needs to be done in order to get on top of them, and I believe we can make a real go for the top prize.”

As part of their preparations for the Games, Singapore played a series of friendly matches against Malaysia earlier this month — it resulted in a whitewash victory in all five encounters for the Malaysians as they beat Casoojee’s side 2-1, 7-0, 5-0, 4-2, and 6-1.

It was hardly the sort of result to instil confidence within the local hockey community ahead of the Games, but national captain Enrico Marican, a three-time Games veteran, refuted suggestions that the losses had damaged their confidence.

“We still believe that we can beat Malaysia when the time comes,” he said. “It will be difficult, but we played teams as good as them during our training stint in Australia earlier this year and we managed to make it a really competitive game then.”

But it is not just the Malaysians that Singapore will have to worry about overcoming. Casoojee expects his team to be fully “switched on” during their matches against the other two teams in the tournament — Myanmar and Thailand — with the former expected to prove “hard to break down defensively”, while the Thais will likely provide a “stern physical challenge”.

With Singapore expected to play their matches in front of a capacity crowd at the 500-seat Sengkang Hockey Stadium, it is the perfect platform for the youthful national squad — with an average age of 22 — to showcase their potential and capabilities to the vibrant local hockey community.

Forward Ahmad Faris Johari, 18, who featured for the national team at last year’s Asian Games in Incheon, is one of the young stars who has been tipped to shine at this year’s Games. “I think he (Faris) is one of our brightest and most exciting young talents,” said Silas Abdul Razak, one of the senior members of the team.

“It tremendously helps Faris to have played in the Asian Games last year and to feature in the coming SEA Games. The only thing he lacks is experience, but already I have seen a huge improvement and he’s been pushing himself very hard for these Games.”

While the Singapore men dream of winning gold, the aim for the nation’s 18-strong women’s team is slightly more subdued.

The last time Singapore won a medal in the women’s category was back in 1993, when former national player Melanie Martens scored the winning goal in the final against Malaysia to lead the Republic to their only gold medal to date.

To expect the current squad — all of whom are part-time players — to repeat that historic feat would be unrealistic, according to head coach Sunil Prasad, who took over the reins of the team in February this year.

He has set his aims on winning at least a bronze medal and added that the team had “improved in terms of their fitness and structure over the past three months, but still lack sufficient exposure of playing against much higher-ranked teams”.

But while Malaysia and Thailand are regarded as favourites for the gold, Martens, who is now principal of the Physical Education and Sports Teacher academy, believes Singapore should still aspire to the top prize.

“Anyone who takes to the field in any competition always has a chance of winning,” Martens said. “At this level, if you don’t think you can win then you shouldn’t be in the competition. I do think the team can win gold.”

SEA Games hockey

Date: June 6-13

Venue: Sengkang Hockey Stadium

Visit www.seagames2015.com for the full schedule