Recently, Sarjit Singh stepped up bravely at a press conference and requested more time to guide the Speedy Tigers and improve the quality of our national team.

These statement came after the disastrous performance by his charges at the Asian Champions Trophy (ACT) in Hulumbuir, Inner Mongolia, China, early this month. The end result was, we finished last in that six nations tournament.

Yes, a very shameful outcome for a team ranked No.2 behind the eventual champions, India for this year edition.

Maybe hockey or even our national football team can learn from badminton, diving squash or track cycling about winning formula. It’s all about starting from young equipped with good basic skill of the sports.

I’m not saying hockey or football don’t have those elements but some sharp questions may arise – was the system done properly or haphazardly right from the top.

So, can we blame Sarjit totally for the failure? Or, could it be the overall structure in the game did not function well accordingly to the development programme.

It may sound unfair to point fingers at the 62-year-old head coach who came and took a team that was on the verge of collapsing after failing to win a medal at the last Asian Games. They also failed miserably in the Olympic qualifying tournament this year and were torn into pieces.

For the record, we have failed to qualify to the Olympics since 2000. That must be a very long absent for our Malaysian squad, having a rich tradition in hockey at global stage.

We really don’t know if the head coaches are not good enough or our national team simply don’t have the material to face a high level matches.

It’s back to the drawing board. Or rather let’s go back to the basic before we start losing our grip at the continent level.

Our national team seemed to remain just a skillful and fast running team, nothing more. A tiger is known for it’s ferocious character. Not only they run fast but has the strong ability to trap their prey at all cost.

We need that, but it is yet to be seen on a regular basis. In short, our Speedy Tigers are lacking in few important areas to find a way out to win matches and not to concede silly goals to end up losers.

To achieve this, we obviously need to have enough quality players from the comprehensive selection process to turn things around in our favour?

Maybe we can ask, how China, Japan and Pakistan are fast rising as proven in the recent ACT Championship. There must be a strong development programme and commitment from all quarters, otherwise how did China reached the final of the Asian elite tournament before losing 0-1 to India.

Now, it’s all about accepting the reality now. We need time to rebuild our national team, including the junior set-up. Also please note rebuilding need more time. The Malaysian Hockey Confederation got to show patience and start doing a lot of homework before we can rise and get back on the winning track.

There is still room for improvement and the desire can be shown in the 2026 Asian Games in Japan. We need a podium finish to restore our pride.

To achieve that, the work on junior development programme must be done accordingly as planned. The argument here, we need more junior players to shine and help the senior squad.

Our national football team are also not far away from their own misery. Like hockey, they too can play some good matches but can surprise the fans with a mediocre performance in their next hurdle. These two eleven-a-side teams do have many things in common.

I believe some of our supremo’s from both associations may not like to answer the media if questions were thrown-in about grassroots programme to link with the current failure by the senior squad.

They would normally jump into their defence saying all-systems are going well and may show decent results and statistics in a matter of time.

But how many times do we have to hear the same rhetorical and narrative statements.

End of the day, people and the critics will judge the success or failure by the team results. If you win 1-0 then obviously good progress shown.

The public are now fast losing patience after waiting to see success. A trophy or a medal is what all it counts.

Where will it come from? It’s how a planned development system applied at the grassroots level, I mean the schools. This must also include primary schools where many raw talents are found for an important start to nurture them becoming our future stars. We just can’t waste it when can see it right in front of our own eyes.

It’s time for National Sports Council or the Sports Ministry to help MHC, charting a new course to see our past glory which is fading at the moment. It may get worse if no proper efforts taken to stop the rot.

Seeing the sombre mood now, the Education Ministry too should not just close their eyes and leave it in good hands of MHC to fix the problem. The ministry must play an important part to shoulder the same pain and start doing something to upgrade the quality at school levels, together with NSC assistance.

Maybe, our Education Minister, Fadhlina Sidek can take the lead to strengthened hockey at school level, especially at the primary stage where good and sound hockey basic starts, not at the junior or senior team.

It is learned that hitting and stopping the ball correctly should be taught as early at the age of six, also the dribbling skill. There is an old proverb in Malay which goes, “melentur buluh biarlah dari rebungnya’ whose English equivalent is “strike while the iron is hot’.

If we fail to understand the importance of these basics at very young stage, then we can’t blame seeing our national team remain poor in demonstrating good attacking skill in the circles and also defending.

Fadhlina views and understanding are very significant here. If she finds sports teachers at school level are not well equipped to guide their students on good basic skill, then why not seek help from MHC. I’m sure they have a lot of qualified junior coaches ready to help improve our nation’s hockey.
More like outsourcing experts to provide services if that is the last resort.

Things too can also be much easier for her to work with the Youth & Sports Minister, Hannah Yeoh. After all the women power do work wonders. Let’s hope both of them cares and save our national sports, not only hockey.

Majulah sukan untuk negara!