KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) requires all players participating in the 2021 Tun Abdul Razak Cup tournament and the Malaysian Junior Hockey League (MJHL) 2021 to be fully vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccine.

MHC competitions committee chairman Datuk Seri Anil Jeet Singh said the requirement is part of the strict standard operating procedures (SOP) for both the tournaments in the effort to curb the spread of the virus.

"All players must be fully vaccinated, otherwise, you will not be allowed to join the tournament. We will ask them to sign a form to make sure the players have been fully vaccinated," he said in a virtual press conference today.

The Tun Abdul Razak Cup 2021 is scheduled to be held from Nov 10-20, while MJHL will take place from Nov 26 to Jan 2, 2022.

He said there were some changes for MJHL 2021 with the competition only featuring the men's category only this time around.

However, Anil Jeet said MHC has plans to hold the women's category early next year.

According to him, the previous MJHL format comprised two divisions. The first division is played by 10 teams in a round-robin, while the second one is divided into groups based on the number of participating teams.

The 2021 Tun Abdul Razak Cup will see one division contested for the men's category comprising of four teams while the women's category (division one) involves three teams.

Meanwhile, he said registration for MJHL 2021 is open from Sept 7-21 while entries for the Tun Abdul Razak Cup will be open from Sept 17 to 30.

Both hockey tournaments will be held at the Bukit Jalil National Hockey Stadium here.

Last year's MJHL competition had to be cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Tun Abdul Razak Cup 2020 was held successfully without any COVID-19 cases among the players and officials involved.

.-- BERNAMA