Ahead of the 9th edition of the FIH Hockey Women’s Junior World Cup taking place in South Africa (1-12 April), we’re conducting a series of exclusive interviews with the participating teams. Today: Nor Asfarina Isahyifiqa Binti Isahhidun (MAL).
Abby, how do you feel at the prospect of playing a World Cup soon?
This is an honour and very exciting for us to play the Women’s Junior World Cup. We are very lucky because this is the first time in our history for us to be playing in this competition. It’ll be a great opportunity for us to get new experience and get to play with the best teams in the world.
What are your expectations as a team from this World Cup?
This is a very big tournament for us. It’s our first time, so this is very special! We qualified to participate in this competition kind of unexpectedly, but we will not be the team that has just come to participate in it. We will work hard and do our best to produce the best result and get the best position in this tournament.
Will it be your first time in South Africa?
Yes, I think it’s not only the first time for me but also for my teammates to play in South Africa. We will be curious about how the weather is there, the vibe, the hockey turf and many more. This will be the best experience for us to get and we are very, very excited to play in South Africa.
How will you prepare now?
We are already training in a camp. Before this, we had our Malaysian Hockey League game end by last week, so we assumed this tournament will be our selection as well as our pre-game to get momentum before the Junior World Cup games. We just follow the program, train hard and work hard. We also get ready for the matches that our coach has arranged for us to train our gameplay and structure for this big tournament.
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