Malaysian junior hockey team to take part in MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup 2025

An international team is set to participate in the upcoming MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup All-India invitational hockey tournament for the first time.

The Malaysian team, as part of its preparations for the forthcoming FIH Men’s Junior World Cup, will take part in the tournament, scheduled to be held at the SDAT-Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium in Chennai from July 10 to 20.

Speaking to Sportstar on Friday, Rajiv Reddy, Organising Secretary of the tournament said, “We wanted to raise the bar and we are happy that the Malaysian team is coming to Chennai. They also wanted to get acclimatised to the conditions before the junior World Cup to be held in Chennai and Madurai from November 28 to December 10.

“We tried to get a team from Europe or from Asia. At the time, Malaysian Hockey Confederation expressed its intentions and we were only too happy. In the future, we are keen to get International teams.”

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According to Reddy, the biggest challenge was to get approval from a few Central agencies. “We received clearance from Hockey India and Sports Ministry, and we were thrilled when we got clearance from Ministry of External Affairs and Home Ministry,” he said.

China, too, showed interest but MCC shot it down, he added. The Malaysian team is expected to arrive in the city on July 10 with its head coach Nor Saiful Zaini, CEO Jayanandhan Vivekanandan and a handful of support staff.