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HOCKEY: National Juniors heading to Seville for final tune-up

THE National Juniors will head to Seville on Sunday to play in a Four-Nation which will be the last tournament before the Junior World Cup on June 7-21 which will be co-hosted by Malaysia and Singapore.

The Four-Nation will be a real dry run as Malaysia will be up against two teams who are in their group in the Junior World Cup.

Malaysia, England, Spain and Germany make up the Four-Nation cast, while in the Junior World Cup Malaysia are in Group C with Spain, England, South Korea and United States.

"It will be an opportunity to size up England and Spain, and I am sure they will be doing the same with us.

"This will be the last tournament as we only have friendlies lined-up after Seville," said Juniors coach K. Rajan.
Rajan has selected 21 players for the Four-Nation which will also be a selection of sorts for the World Cup.

"I will get a chance to test some players who are borderline cases after which I will have a clearer picture of the final 18 for the World Cup."

After the Four-Nation, the Juniors will play a series of friendly matches with European sides. They will return on April 22.

"All the players will be utilised during the friendlies, and on our return, I will start coaching the boys at the Taman Daya Stadium (tournament venue), to give them maximum mileage so that they will be familiar with the pitch."

The squad -- Goalkeepers: Abdul Hakim, Asmawi Zaidi.

Defenders: Khairil Anuar (capt), Sybrie Shamsuddin, Nor Hafiq Ghaffar, Marhan Jalil, Wong Kee Hoon, Kavin Kartik, Kazamirul Nasruddin.

Midfielders: Azreen Rizal, Faizal Saari, Shafiq Zain, Izzat Rahim.

Forwards: Azzami Adabi, Harvinder Singh, R. Nadesh, Mohamed Noor Khairul, Jamil Saidin, Izwan Firdaus, Ahmad Termizi, Khairul Azwan.

FIXTURES -- April 8: Malaysia v Spain; April 9: Germany v Spain; April 10: Malaysia v England; April 11: England v Spain, Malaysia v Germany; April 12: Germany v England.

l Meanwhile, Nur Insafi beat Selangor 4-1 yesterday and will only need a draw from their two remaining matches to seal the Division Three title of the Malaysia Hockey League.

Only TBSS-Tampin, on 13 points after six matches, have an outside chance of denying them the title, provided Nur Insafi lose both their remaining matches.

RESULT -- Division Three: Nur Insafi 4 Selangor 1.

NST

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