Olak aim to stay unbeaten

19/06/1997

LEAGUE champions Old La Sallians of Klang (Olak) are yet to lose a match
in the MHF-Milo-NSC Junior League hockey and they aim to keep the record
in the first leg of the semifinals against Petaling Jaya Municipal Council
(PJMC) at the PJMC Stadium tomorrow.
Their only draw was against PJMC and team manager Joseph de Silva said
his players are ready for a win this time around.
"Today (yesterday) we trained on penalty corners. That is our weakest
point, we have only scored two goals from the 57 we received in the
League.
"With the League title in our hands, we are confident of winning a
double this year. Morover nine former Olak players are in the PJMC team
this year. We should be able to read their game and know what to expect,"
said de Silva.
Olak can also rely on skipper Syayrim Uda Karim, who has scored eight
goals thus far, Mohamed Faizal (7) and Kamal Affendy (5) to do the damage.
And if Olak become double champions, there is more than the RM25,000
prize money to look out for. Team president Datuk Jeffrey Ng Keng Keong,
who is away on a business trip to South Africa, said earlier that they can
expect something rewarding.
PJMC are also yet to lose a match in the League but they have not been
consistent. They drew 1-1 with Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS) only to
bounce back with a convincing 5-2 win against Tampin District in the next
match.
"We expect a tough match and are prepared for it. The players have been
training well for the past few days and Olak can expect a handful," said
PJMC coach Avtar Singh.
"Our recent training has centred around penalty corners. We have only
scored 12 of the 61 we received."
Penalty corners have been the sore point of the League, and the 12 PJMC
have scored is the best percentage. Most other teams have only about four
per cent conversion rate to show.
"We may not field Mohamed Zabidi and Mohamed Hafiz in the first leg
because they are injured. If they don't recover in time it will be a great
loss because Hafiz is the top scorer in the League with 15 goals and
Zabidi has scored three."
OLAK: Roslan Jamaluddin, Katar Batcha, Mohamed Radzi, Mohamed Faizal,
Mohamed Amin, Mohamed Madzli, Kulvinder Singh, Mohamed Badrul, Syayrim Uda
Karim, Mohamed Ezral, Redzuan Ponirin, Sukhwinder Singh, Mohamed
Fakaaruddin, Shahrizal Mastor, Rahal Hafizan, Saiful Azhar, Kamal Affendy,
Zairi Tamin.
PJMC: Adzarin Shah, S. Suresh, Ahmad Zanawi, Rozhan Razman, Fakrul
Adabi, Mohamed Faizal, Sharizal Shamsudin, Mohamed Redzuan, Khairul Nizam,
Azrul Affendy, Mohamed Hafiz, Azlan Saufi, Chua Boon Huat, Mohamed
Rashidan, Samsul Kamal, Mohamed Zabidi, Azizi Mutalib, Ng Su Khiam.
(END)