THE vacuum left by former national women’s coach, K. Dharmaraj, has attracted candidates from around the world.
A total of 22 coaches, 12 from overseas and 10 local, have applied for the position.
Dharmaraj, who was the national women’s coach from 2017, did not re-apply for the post after his contract expired in December.
Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) deputy president Datuk S. Shamala said they have yet to interview the overseas coaches after the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted air travel.
The 12 coaches are from the Netherlands, Canada, Pakistan, South Korea, England, South Africa and India.
“The interested candidates could not be interviewed as they can’t come to Malaysia because of the Covid-19 movement restrictions worldwide.
“However, a video interview will be conducted soon as we hope to hire the best among the applicants by the end of April,” said Shamala.
MHC will also have to seek the approval of the Sports Ministry, as well as National Sports Council, before naming the successful candidate.
On the local front, MHC have interviewed nine out of 10 applicants, with the exception of Rizal Razman who is overseas currently.
The other seven are former men’s national players Nasihin Nubli, Lailin Abu Hassan, Shaiful Azli, Nasir Maidin, Amin Rahim, Roslan Jamaluddin and Megat Azrafiq.
Two former women’s national players who were interviewed are Ernawati Mahmud and A. Kannagi.
The women’s team were supposed to train for the Asian Champions Trophy in Donghae, South Korea, on June 14-21 but the tournament has since been postponed due to Covid-19.