KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) wants to see more players from the country's various races in its national teams.
Multiracial Malaysia's rich diversity in population, said the MHC, can lead to an abundance of talent for the national teams.
MHC president Datuk Seri Subahan Kamal said at present there are only a few Indian and Chinese playing in the Malaysia Hockey League.
"We want to invite players from all the races to come and play hockey in our tournaments.
"We want to give everybody a chance to be selected for the national teams.
"In the past, we called up former national junior Pavandeep Singh to join the national team but he could not attend training as he was busy with his studies overseas," said Subahan today.
He also said MHC wants the national juniors and seniors to have the same playing system and the same DNA.
"The head coach is given the task to draw out this plan. It's the aspiration of the national body to have one roof for the senior and junior players in their playing and training structure.
"We find that at times the head coach does his own job and the junior coach does his own job. There is also a clash in releasing players for the different tournaments. What we want from them is to speak with the same voice and work as a family.
"We also want to set up Under-17 and Under-19 squads so that there will be more players available for the future," said Subahan.