Heboh! Pelatih Hoki Asal Malaysia Minta Dinaturalisasi usai Bawa Indonesia Rebut Emas SEA Games 2023

Heboh! Pelatih Hoki Asal Malaysia Minta Dinaturalisasi usai Bawa Indonesia Rebut Emas SEA Games 2023
Pelatih Timnas Hoki Indoor Indonesia asal Malaysia, Muhammad Dharma Raj diangkat ofisial dan pemain usai membawa skuad Garuda meraih medali emas di SEA Games 2023. [NOC Indonesia/Komite Olimpiade Indonesia]
Suara.com - Pelatih Timnas Hoki Indoor Indonesia, Muhammad Dharma Raj secara mengejutkan berharap bisa dinaturalisasi sebagai warga negara Indonesia (WNI) setelah memimpin tim Merah Putih merebut medali emas SEA Games 2023.

Dharma Raj membawa tim Hoki Indoor Indonesia mencatatkan sejarah setelah untuk pertama kalinya merengkuh medali emas di ajang SEA Games.

Hebatnya, dia membawa Indonesia jadi yang terbaik dengan mengalahkan negara asalnya sendiri, Malaysia di babak final yang berlangsung di Dinosaur Hall Pnom Penh, Kamboja, Minggu (7/5/2023).

Timnas Hoki Indoor Indonesia berhasil mengalahkan Malaysia dengan cara yang begitu dramatis. Setelah tertinggal 0-3, skuad Garuda bangkit untuk menyamakan skor 3-3 saat laga tersisa 5 menit 30 detik.

Tiga gol tersebut dicetak Hendri, Ferdian dan Muhammad Alfiana. Nama terakhir bahkan mencatatkan namanya di papan skor saat pertandingan tinggal tersisa 9 detik!


Timnas Hoki Indoor Indonesia usai meraih medali emas di SEA Games 2023. [NOC Indonesia/Komite Olimpiade Indonesia]
Di babak adu penalti, Indonesia berhasil mengalahkan Malaysia 2-1 lewat gol-gol yang dicetak Prima Rinaldi dan Andre Guntara.

Pasca kesuksesan itu, Muhammad Dharma Raj mengaku ingin menjadi warga negara Indonesia. Dia siap dinaturalisasi dengan alasan mencintai dunia hoki di Indonesia.

"Kalau diizinkan saya ingin menjadi Warga Negara Indonesia," kata pelatih asal Malaysia, Muhammad Dharma Raj dikutip dari dalam keterangan tertulis.

"Saya itu sangat cinta dengan Indonesia. Bukan hanya Pak Budi Sulistijono sebagai Ketua Umum Pengurus Pengurus Pusat Federasi Hoki Indonesia (PP FHI) tetapi Pak Yasser Arafat Suaidy selaku Sekjen sangat baik dan begitu komitmen membangun hoki Indonesia. Begitu juga dengan pemain hoki Indonesia sangat menghormati pelatih."


Menurut Dharma Raj, hoki indoor Indonesia memiliki potensi untuk maju merujuk pada banyaknya bakat-bakat bagus yang dimiliki.

"Cukup banyak bibit pemain hoki potensial di Indonesia. Mereka punya berpeluang untuk bisa meraih prestasi di ajang internasional. Dan, saya ingin mengantarkan Timnas Hoki Indonesia bisa bermain di World Cup," tambahnya.

Keinginan Dharma Raj untuk menjadi WNI juga disampaikan adik kandungnya, Vijay Raj yang juga mantan pemain hoki. "Dia jatuh cinta dengan Indonesia dan ingin membangun prestasi hoki di Indonesia."

"Dia juga pernah menyampaikan kepada saya mau menjadi WNI. Semoga keinginannya bisa dipenuhi," kata Vijay yang sengaja datang ke Kamboja untuk menyaksikan penampilan Timnas Indonesia.

"Saudara saya juga sempat menghubungi dan tidak percaya Timnas Hoki Indoor Putra Indonesia yang dilatih Dharma Raj bisa menjadi juara. Di Malaysia itu heboh," tambahnya.

Prestasi hoki Indonesia memang mengalami peningkatan sejak ditangani Dharma Raj. Sejak dikontrak PP FHI sejak 2019 lalu, dia sukses membawa Timnas Hoki Indoor Indonesia mencetak sejarah dengan merebut medali emas untuk pertama kali dalam sejarah keikutsertaan pada ajang multi event negara Asia Tenggara.

Bukan hanya itu saja, Prima Rinaldi dan kawan-kawan sukses meruntuhkan nama besar Timnas Hoki Indoor Putra Malaysia yang menjadi Raja Hoki Indoor Asia Tenggara.

Sebelumnya, Timnas Hoki Indoor Putra Indonesia meraih peringkat empat dan Timnas Hoki Indoor Putri Indonesia menempati posisi runner up pada Piala Asia 2022. Sedangkan Timnas Hoki Outdoor Putra dan Putri Indonesia sukses meraih tiket ke Asian Games 2023 Hangzhou.

Tiket ini merupakan pertama kali diraih Timnas Hoki Outdoor Indonesia karena sebelumnya jatah sebagai tuan rumah di Asian Games 2018 Jakarta-Palembang.
https://www.suara.com/sport/2023/05/...es-2023?page=2


versi artikel asal Malayisa

The Malaysian behind Indonesia beating Malaysia for SEA Games hockey gold

The exploits of coach K Dharma Raj and his boys are proof of hard work, dedication and self-belief.

Frankie D'Cruz - 09 May 2023, 9:30am
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Malaysian K Dharma Raj has been hailed as a sporting hero in Indonesia for making the country indoor hockey champions in Southeast Asia. (Dharma Raj pic)
PETALING JAYA: With five minutes and 20 seconds left in the final of the SEA Games men’s indoor hockey final, Indonesia took off their goalkeeper and launched power play.

Malaysia were leading 3-0, and putting an extra man in attack at that stage of the match was a moment of desperation for Indonesia.

Yet there was method in the madness that sprung pure euphoria.

Indonesia scored three goals in three minutes, the last goal coming two seconds from the final hooter, to send the match into the roulette of a penalty shootout.

Defending champions Malaysia, who were crowned Asian champions last year, lost 2-1 in the shootout, making Indonesian indoor hockey the best in Southeast Asia.

One man knew that the players from the tiny hockey nation of Indonesia would play their hearts out, although he could never have imagined striking gold.

That man, like Indonesia’s opponents on Sunday in Phnom Penh, is from Malaysia. He is K Dharma Raj, 51.

He is being hailed as a sporting hero by many, including the Indonesian media whose removed perception of the sport, according to Dharma Raj, has changed overnight.


The Indonesian team erupting with joy after beating a dazed Malaysia in the SEA Games indoor hockey final. (Dharma Raj pic)
Dharma Raj is the technical director of Federasi Hockey Indonesia (FHI) and a former coach who had turned the Malaysian men’s and women’s senior teams, as well as the junior squads, into a feared force.

Recalling the final, he said: “It was a night of total madness and courage to be remembered forever.

“Some people thought I was crazy to take the goalkeeper out with five minutes left, but we had trained power play without the keeper for a long time.”

“We wanted one gold medal at the Games, God gave us a golden moment,” he said. “And we are equally proud of the women who took the bronze in indoor hockey.”

He said hockey in Indonesia, which often drew remarks among the locals such as “what hockey?”, will get a big boost with possible federal government funding as a result of the gold medal achievement.

Since the men’s and women’s teams were not gold medal prospects, FHI funded their participation in Phnom Penh.

Now, each member of the gold medal-winning team will receive a whopping 365 million rupiah (about RM110,000) in bonus, as well as financial rewards from the provinces they come from.

“These youths, some from remote areas, are hungry for success and have made great sacrifices to play hockey for the nation,” Dharma Raj said.


FHI secretary-general Yasser Arafat (left) paved the way for Dharma Raj to transform Indonesia as a force in hockey. (Dharma Raj pic)
His contract, which runs until 2025, looks likely to be extended, and he said he has been offered Indonesian citizenship.

If he gets the contract extension, he will play a key role in FHI’s ambition for Indonesia to qualify on merit for hockey at the 2032 Olympics that the country is bidding to host.

“The obstacles ahead are daunting, but not insurmountable,” said Dharma Raj, who represented Malaysia from 1989-1994, and played in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

For Dharma Raj, who has been in Indonesia since 2020, the gold medal in Cambodia has been the culmination of a long journey for him and all of his players.

He worked with FHI, running trials and coaching, finding and developing kids in 10 provinces, and is still on the lookout for talent in another 24 regions.

“We don’t have a big pool of players like in Malaysia because here they begin playing at 16 or 17, but even at that late age, they develop fast,” said Dharma Raj, who has 15 indoor and outdoor coaches under him.

Exciting Indonesian journey

Dharma Raj got his first Indonesian job with the West Java provincial team after a fall-out with the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) for not extending their coaches’ contracts which ended in 2019.

He was distraught because he had taken the women’s indoor team to gold in the same year at the Philippines SEA Games.

MHC told the coaches to reapply, but Dharma Raj was not keen to do so.

After considering offers from several countries, he signed a deal with West Java in early 2020, largely because of a long-term plan for hockey in Indonesia.

Like Dharma Raj, several Malaysian coaches have moved overseas to train various national squads, as they were rattled by the lack of top coaching opportunities locally.

At the Asia Cup in Jakarta last year, four out of the eight coaches at the tournament were Malaysians, something that never happened before.

They were A Arulselvaraj (Malaysia), Dharma Raj (Indonesia) Lim Chiow Chuan (Oman) and K Gobinathan (Bangladesh).

Asked whether he would return to coaching in Malaysia, Dharma Raj said: “I was in the Malaysian setup for 11 years and as much as I like to come back, I am on an exciting adventure in Indonesia and look forward to more duels with Malaysia.”
https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/ca...d0X5ADjuEWebII

Pelatih asal Malaysia yang jatuh hati sama Indonesia dan sukses membawa timnas Hoki Indonesia juara SEA Games mengalahkan negaranya
Dia kelihatannya nggak dihargai di Malaysia padahal sukses bawa Timnas Hoki Malaysia putri juara SEA Games Filipina dan disuruh masukin ulang perpanjangan kontrak..
Alhasil dia diambil sama Indonesia