KUALA, Lumpur (Reuters) — In the middle of a sprawling construction site, over a dozen young Malaysian men, sporting ice skates and protective gear, descend onto an indoor skating rink to do their morning drills amid a mist of condensation.
They’re in equatorial Malaysia, where it is summer all year long, and training flat out for the debut of winter sports at the biennial Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, which will be hosted by their home country from August 19 to 30.
The team comprises of young professionals and school leavers, all of whom have been training full time over the past month.
“Confident? Yes of course, you always go in to war thinking of winning,” said Khoo Seng Chee, 31, a senior member of the team who has played the game since he was 14.
With Khoo and many others soon retiring from the sport, and with it being the first time ice hockey has been recognized as an event in the SEA Games, the team are eager to make their mark. “We just want to make it gold to help the future generation, so that’s very important for us.”
Many of the players, including Khoo, taught themselves how to play by watching online tutorials and mimicking moves they saw in movies like “The Mighty Ducks” and “Cool Runnings.”
The team’s new coach, Kristof Kovago, said preparations had been tough, and they still had a way to go before being ready. “Of course one year is not so much time to be able to fix all the problems, so we just went the most important ones.”
The entry of winter sports in the SEA Games raised eyebrows when it was announced in early 2016 as none of the countries in the region have naturally occurring snow and ice.
Mohd Fadzli Johan, the president of the Ice Skating Association of Malaysia, said it was an uphill battle getting approval.
The turning point came when they managed to convince a property developer to include a 30 million ringgit ($7.01 million) ice skating facility with an Olympic-sized rink in their latest project in Kuala Lumpur.
This year, most of the 11 countries competing in the Games are expected to send athletes for the three winter sports events – ice hockey, short-track speed skating and figure skating.
“It’s a new taste, it’s a new flavor. We can actually get more Malaysians to be part of these sport,” said a Kuala Lumpur resident, Yom Nurul Akma.
With the facilities in place and increased local exposure at the SEA Games, Mohd Fadzli thinks Malaysia is getting closer to the ultimate goal of a Winter Olympics debut.
