Brunei's Abang Muhammad Huzairie Abang Muhammad Ali and Hj Sufri Hj Abdul Hamid have identified Malaysia as their main threats at Thursday's Kijono Cup Open Squash Championship 2014 in Jakarta.
"This is a very competitive tournament and all the best squash players in the region will be around - it is not going to be easy," said Hj Sufri, who like Abang Muhammad Huzairie has said he is targeting a berth in the second round.
"Malaysia will surely be sending their top talented players to the tournament and I think they are the strongest. "For me, I am going to focus on every game and will be relying on my stamina as we will be up against professional squash players who spend their days just training.
"We are expecting them to be in very good physical condition," he added ahead of the May 15-17 tournament at the Gelora Bung Karno Squash Complex. Abang Muhammad Huzairie agreed with Hj Sufri, saying that the squash players from Malaysia will be the ones to watch out for in the tournament.
"Other than Malaysia, the hosts (Indonesia) have also got a number of good players who can win the tournament.
"I feel very good about myself as we have been practicing for the past few months, but anything can happen and what I need to do is to keep up my concentration during the game and try to enjoy myself at the same time," added Abang Muhammad Huzairie when met with Hj Sufri on Sunday.
The duo have been training for the past few months at the National Squash Centre of the Hassanal Bolkiah National Sports Complex in Berakas and the squash court at the Multipurpose Hall of the Universiti Brunei Darussalam Sports Complex in Tungku Link.
Recently, 40 physical education teachers from secondary schools in the Sultanate attended a squash workshop organised by the Department of Co-Curriculum Education, Ministry of Education (MOE). The workshop, which was supported by the Coaching Unit of the Department of Youth and Sports, Ministry of Culture Youth and Sports (MCYS), ran from April 7-10 at the National Squash Centre.
The course was facilitated by local squash coach Abang Muhammad Huzairie and Saiful Rizal Ali. Also attending the workshop to assist the coaches were local squash players Shavez Cheema and Mohammad Rosman Roslin.
The objective of the workshop was to introduce squash to the physical education teachers from secondary schools in the country so they could promote the sport to their students in their respective schools.
"During this programme we taught the participants the basics of squash, from the very first steps with thorough explanations including demonstration of training drills and the game itself,'' explained Abang Muhammad Huzairie.
"This is a very good initiative from the organiser as we, the coaches and players, are more than happy to teach and introduce squash to the community especially students."
