2014 promises to be a busy year for the Brunei Darussalam Hockey Federation (BDHF) with plans in place for regional and international hockey tournaments and as well as workshops, seminars and courses.
BDHF Vice President Mansor Hj Ibrahim told The Brunei Times yesterday that the association is looking forward to an eventful year.
"We had a meeting last Monday where the committee members and coaches were present to prepare and plan our activities and target for next year," said Mansor.
"We are targeting to compete in many tournaments, both locals and internationals, and the meeting was held last week to make sure that everything is planned accordingly," he said.
This year was a quiet year for the association with the Hockey Indoor 5-a-side Tournament 2013, which was held at the Dewan Riadah at the Youth Centre (Pusat Belia) in April, their only activity of note.
However, the vice president said that the national team now have set their sight on three big tournaments with Malaysian Games (SUKMA) which will be held in Perlis next year is regarded the most important.
"We have the Borneo Cup in Sabah, Brunei Invitational Hockey Tournament and the most important event for the national team next year, SUKMA," continued Mansor.
"They want to do better in SUKMA next year, and if they managed to get a good result then we can talk about 2015 SEA (Southeast-Asian) Games in Singapore," he said.
The Borneo Cup and the Brunei Invitational Hockey Tournament is set to kick-off in October, while SUKMA is expected to take place in June.
"We will also be going to organise a number of seminars and coaching courses for the BDHF referees and officials, and we will be inviting the officials from the International Hockey Federation (FIH) as facilitators," added the vice president.
The association revealed their strategic plan in June as they are preparing for the SEA Games that the Sultanate will host in 2019.
Upgrading the quality of the pitch at the the National Hockey Stadium of the Hassanal Bolkiah National Sports Complex will be one of the association's many initiative to improve the standard of the sport.
The national team defeated Sabah 1-0 to win the gold medal in the 2007 edition of the Borneo Games in Kuching, which until today, remains the country's biggest achievement in the sport.
It was the first time the men's team won gold in the sport and ranks as one of the country's most memorable moments in the game.
