KUALA LUMPUR: Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah graced the 2023 Hockey Junior World Cup (JWC) match between Malaysia and Chile at the Bukit Jalil National Hockey Stadium tonight.
Also present were Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh and Malaysian Hockey Confederation (KHM) president Datuk Seri Subahan Kamal.
The King was greeted with a bag pipe band performance and traditional dances of various ethnicities in Malaysia upon his arrival.
The Negaraku and the Chilean national anthem were then played before the match began at 8.30 pm.
Al-Sultan Abdullah has been the Royal Patron of the Asian Hockey Federation since 2019, and was the former president of KHM.
The JWC is a biennial tournament for hockey players aged 21 and below, with 16 teams participating in this year's edition.
Malaysia, who are drawn in Pool A, face Chile tonight, followed by matches against defending champions Argentina tomorrow (Dec 6) and 1997 champions Australia on Friday (Dec 8).
Malaysia's best achievement at the JWC has been finishing fourth, achieved in the inaugural edition in 1979, as well as in 1982 and 2013, while in the last edition, the national squad was eliminated in the quarter-finals after losing 0-4 to France. - Bernama