THE national hockey squad are tapering off on physical training and moving towards team and mental building exercises to prepare for the Dublin Olympic Qualifier on March 10-18.
Malaysia will battle for the sole ticket to the London Olympics with World No 6 South Korea, Ireland, Chile, Russia and Ukraine."Most of the work has been completed. Now the players will head for a relaxing weekend in Port Dickson for two days (starting today) where team building and mental strength will be the main items on the agenda," said national coach Tai Beng Hai.
Chile will be the first hurdle and Beng Hai is not taking matters lightly.
"Though the first three matches (Chile, Russia and Ukraine) look relatively easy on paper, we need to get maximum points and also goals to keep the fire burning," the coach added.
After that, they will meet South Korea and finally hosts Ireland, and need to win at least one match to play in the final of the Qualifier.
"We last saw Chile play in the Ireland Champions Challenge II and their style is similar to Argentina. All their matches were close affairs," said Beng Hai.
In the 2009 tournament, Japan could only beat Chile 4-3, while Poland edged them 3-2 and Ireland beat them 3-0 in the preliminaries.
Penalty corner flickers Amin Rahim and Razie Rahim, who picked up injuries in the Australian tour, are recovering well.
"Both suffered knocks and bruises during the tour but should recover fully before we head to Europe. We will be taking only 18 players so we can't afford to name any injured player to the final list," said Beng Hai.
Malaysia will set up camp in Cardiff from Feb 28-March 5 after which they head for Dublin.
The camp is to allow the players to acclimatise and they will play at least three matches against Wales.
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