The FIH Hockey Men's Junior World Cup 2023 to be hosted by Malaysia from Dec 5-16 is three months away, but the coordination committee is not leaving any stones unturned to make it a successful and memorable one for all.

On Wednesday, the full coordination committee members met for brief and update on the preparations for the JWC by Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) Event Manager Brian Fernandez.

The meeting was chaired by MHC president, Dato’ Sri Subahan Kamal, with deputy president Jadadish Chandra Bipin Chandra present.

This was the second meeting, but this time with the full committee involved in the JWC. Earlier last month, the core members of the committee from MHC, met for a brief before this full meeting.

In attendance on Wednesday, were State Hockey Federations presidents, various Police divisions, representatives from the Ministry of Education, Malaysia Airport, National Sports Council (MSN), National Sports Institute (ISN), Customs, Immigration, City Hall and other relevant bodies and members of committees (eg transportation, accommodation, food, secretariat etc).

Datuk Subahan in his opening address in welcoming all present said that the work has only just began and was looking forward to the cooperation of all to work together efficiently to ensure that successful tournament is organised.

“We will be watched by the world, besides the 15 countries competing together with Malaysia, who will be expecting first class service from us and make their stay here as comfortable as possible, besides organsing a top class tournament for them,” said Subahan.

“FIH who will here to guide us and have their own SOPs (standard operating procedures), will also be watching us closely. However, I am confident that we will not only meet all requirements but will super cede as perfect hosts. I believe we have an excellent team here and many of whom have had previous experience in organising world class tournaments.”

Subahan then had a dialogue session with the various government agencies present, on how they can assist and what were the requirements from them for a smooth flow of services.

He also outlined the services MHC was looking for and how it can be implemented.

All suggestions and ideas from the agencies were noted for further action and for individual meeting with them for further discussions and finalisation of the action plan.

Subahan also hoped to see the fans flock the stadium not only to support the Malaysian team, but also to see top class matches of the other teams competing.

The twelve teams competing have been Grouped into four namely in Group A – Argentina, Malaysia, Australia, Chile; B – Germany, France, South Africa, Egypt; C – India, Spain, Korea, Canada ; and D – Netherlands, Belgium, Pakistan and New Zealand.

There will be 6 matches during the Pool stages starting from 9am and the last match of the day at 8.00pm for the first two days and four matches per day from Day 3.

The meeting was concluded with Subahan thanking all present for taking their time to be present to have a better understanding of the operation procedures and being updated on the preparations so far.