Speedy Tigers going through 'slow motion' again
He has failed to get the Speedy Tigers up to speed since taking over the team in March last year.
The former national captain, whose contract with the Malaysia Hockey Confederation (MHC) is until the 2026 Asian Games, has offered many reasons for his underperforming team.
Sarjit said that he needs more time to build a team. But it has already been 15 months since he took charge of the Speedy Tigers.
And Sarjit himself set the semi-final target for the Nations Cup, one which his men couldn't meet.
Yet, after 15 months in charge of the national team, Sarjit said that his team still have a long way to go.
"We have to be much better in our fitness. Japan and China are not good teams but their fitness is three times better. So if we improve our fitness three times, I think our team will be in the right direction," he said.
Hosts Malaysia, powered by seven players with more than 100 caps, failed to advance to the last four from Group B, and were reduced to playing in the fifth to eighth classification.
World No 13 Malaysia drew 3-3 with world No. 15 Pakistan and lost 4-3 to world No. 12 New Zealand before beating world No. 17 Japan in Group B. But this was not enough as Pakistan pipped Malaysia for a place in the semi-finals as Group B runners-up.
These are the 18 best players we have in the country and they kept making the same mistakes of conceding goals due to poor focus.
The standards and rankings of the eight teams competing in Nations Cup is close to one another, but yet the Speedy Tigers stumbled in their backyard.
MHC president Datuk Seri Subahan Kamal said he had given everything to the national players, and he was hoping they could match the other teams in the Nations Cup. But sadly, it turned out to be another letdown.
Sarjit's first national assignment was the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup last May where Malaysia finished fourth out of six teams.
He set a semi-final target for the Nations Cup in Poland last June, but Malaysia finished seventh among nine teams. And Malaysia's target for the Asian Champions Trophy in Inner Mongolia, China last September was top four, but the Speedy Tigers finished sixth and last.
Sarjit also keeps saying "we are getting better" after failing to achieve the targets set by him. Hopefully, he is right.
After missing the semi-finals, Sarjit now said that Malaysia's next target is fifth in the Nations Cup. That's a lower target but it seems tough too.
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