Kim Swee finalises Malaysia U-23 squad for 2018 Asian Games

Malaysia U-23 head coach Ong Kim Swee has named his final 20-player squad for the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia.

From the initial list of 24 players, overage players Aidil Zafuan Abdul Radzak (Johor Darul Ta'zim (JDT)) and Shahrul Saad (Perak) were ruled out due to injuries.

Thus, for the overage player slots, Ong could only count on Kedah duo Baddrol Bakhtiar and Rizal Ghazali.

Baddrol was also named captain for the tournament.

Also out injured were Negeri Sembilan's N. Thanabalan and Felda United midfielder Danial Amier Norhisham, while Kuala Lumpur goalkeeper Khatul Anuar Jalil was dropped in favour of JDT II forward Hadi Fayyadh Abdul Razak, who just underwent a trial in Japan.

The remaining players included JDT's Safawi Rasid and Kedah wonderkid Akhyar Rashid, who both impressed in friendly matches against China U-23 and the United Arab Emirates U-23 earlier this month.

Malaysia will face Kyrgyzstan (August 15), South Korea (August 17) and Bahrain (August 20) in Group E at the Asian Games.

For the record, Malaysia have only reached the knockout stage once in the past four editions, when they lost 3-1 to Iran in the Round of 16 in 2010.

The full Malaysia U-23 squad is as follows:

#	Name	Age	Team
1	Haziq Nadzli	20	Johor Darul Ta’zim
2	Dominic Tan	21	Johor Darul Ta’zim
3	Safawi Rasid	21	Johor Darul Ta’zim
4	Adam Nor Azlin	22	Johor Darul Ta’zim
5	Syafiq Ahmad	23	Johor Darul Ta’zim
6	Adib Zainudin	23	Johor Darul Ta’zim II
7	Hadi Fayyadh Abdul Razak	18	Johor Darul Ta’zim II
8	Baddrol Bakhtiar	30	Kedah
9	Rizal Ghazali	26	Kedah
10	Ifwat Akmal Chek Kassim	22	Kedah
11	Akhyar Rashid	19	Kedah
12	Irfan Zakaria	23	Kuala Lumpur
13	Syazwan Andik Ishak	22	Kuala Lumpur
14	Faisal Abdul Halim	20	Pahang
15	Kogileswaran Raj	20	Pahang
16	Rodney Celvin Akwensivie	22	PKNS
17	Nik Akif Syahiran Nik Mat	19	Kelantan
18	Syazwan Zaipol Bahari	23	Perak
19	Tommy Mawat Bada	22	PJ Rangers
20	Syahmi Safari	20	Selangor