KUALA LUMPUR: Back in 2017, a group of friends got together and decided to form a hockey club with aims of developing young talents for the good future of the sports.
Since then the Matador Hockey Club has been well known of giving many youngsters chances to take part in local and international club hockey tournaments.
This year, the club has taken a step further since registering with the KLHA eight years ago.
This time, powered by some foreign internationals and also very young talents of the game in the country, the Matador Hockey Club aims to make a lasting impression in their debut season in the Malaysian Hockey League (MHL).
The debutants will also bring in eight Pakistan national players and also one Indian state player to mount a strong challenge in the Malaysian Hockey League (MHL) which begins this week.
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The Pakistani internationals are senior team captain Ammad Shakeel Butt, Abdul Hannan Shahid, penalty corner specialist Sufyan Khan, Abdul Waheed Ashraf Rana, Zikriya Hayat, Usama Bashir, Rana Muhammad Waleed Ashraf and Abdul Manan.
The experienced Ammad Shakeel is quite a known in Malaysian hockey as he also had played for Terengganu in the MHL for five seasons from 2014-2018.
The player from India is centrehalf Ankush Lal from the Haryana state team, a midfielder who has also played in local leagues in the region.
Matador will also be powered by former national players Baljit Singh Charun, Jiwa Mohan and Adrian Andy Albert. Their youngest player is 15-year-old Arvind Zachary Steven, a Penang boy who is now studying at SM Bukit Bandaraya in Bangsar.
Team officials are confident that despite his young age, Arvind will adapt to the high tempo of the league and will a player to watch for the future and one who can make his way to the senior national team in the future.
The Matador Hockey Club has also secured the services of experienced coach is K. Yogeswaran, who guided Perak to the 2013 and 2014 Razak Cup titles.
Matador team manager Sarwan Singh said they also have a few talented youngsters who have a chance to be called up for national junior training.
"It will cost us about RM600,000 to RM700,000 to compete (in the MHL) and we got good support from sponsors, parents and friends. This is a club made up by friends and family and it will remain that way. The club itself is a closely knit family.
"But we are looking forward to giving the other teams a run for their money and qualify for the semi-finals. It is our first season in MHL and we want to make a good impression.
"This club has been participating in many tournaments. But this will be an amazing test for us. The players are pumped up and so eager to play and we hope to keep it up in and out of Malaysian, whenever and wherever we play. We want to show 'Matador Matters' in hockey in Malaysia."
Matador will open their MHL campaign against Nurinsafi Sporting at the Bertam Hockey Stadium in Penang on Jan 15.
