34 players in centralised training for Sea Games

The national Under-23 squad will begin their first phase of preparations for the Indonesia SEA Games at Wisma FAM in Kelana Jaya today.

Head coach Ong Kim Swee has named 34 players for centralised training – including 19 boys from the Under-22 squad who played for him in the Asian Zone final round qualifying tournament for the 2012 London Olympics.

“It will be a good mix of experience and youth but my aim is to test out the new faces,” said Kim Swee yesterday.

He said that 13 players currently with the national senior team would check in on Oct 9, after their international friendly against Australia in Canberra on Oct 7.

The 13 are Khairul Fahmi Che Mat (Kel), Muhd Zubir Azmi (Ter), Mohd Asraruddin Putra Omar (Sel), Baddrol Bakhtiar (Kedah), Yong Kuong Yong (Kul), Mohd Muslim Ahmad, Mahalli Jasuli, Mohd Fadhli Shas, K. Gurusamy, Izzaq Faris Ramlan, Syahrul Azwari Ibrahim, Wan Zaharulnizam Wan Zakaria (Harimau Muda A) and K. Reuben (UKM).

The first test for the SEA Games squad would be in the VFF Invitational Under-23 tournament in Hanoi from Oct 17-24. Hosts Vietnam, Uzbekistan and Indonesia will also be featuring in the round-robin competition.

“I have a large pool of players to choose from and the door is open to new and exciting talents to make the squad for the SEA Games,” said Kim Swee, who has had to juggle his duties between the Asian Olympic qualifiers and the SEA Games, which will kick off in Jakarta from Nov 7-22.

Expectations are high on Kim Swee’s boys to qualify for the SEA Games final although not much is expected of them in the Olympic qualifiers.

National coach Datuk K. Rajagopal led Malaysia to the gold medal at the 2009 SEA Games in Laos.