06/09/1997
BACK in 1982, Malaysia were leading India 2-1 in the opening match of the
New Delhi World Cup, and an upset would have gone down in the annals of
history.
In the second half, Indian right-back Rajinder Singh, 21 then, scored
from three successive penalty corners in the 37th, 43rd and 63rd minutes
to cancel Foo Keat Seong and M. Surentheren's goals.
Mervyn Fernendez and Surendar Sodhi completed the rout and India won 6-
2.
Hat-trick hero Rajinder is now coaching the Indonesian hockey team, to
prepare them for the Sea Games challenge.
"This is a scratch side, I have only been with them for two months,
basically I have been entrusted to sharpen the technical side of their
game," said Rajinder at the Bukit Jalil Hockey Stadium yesterday.
Early birds indonesia flew in on Wednesday to get the feel of an
artificial hockey pitch before the Razak Cup bullies off on Sept in
Seremban.
"The Sea Games hockey stadium is still under construction, today
(yesterday) is the first time that the men and women played on an
artificial pitch. There is much work to be done before we can call this a
team."
The Indonesians will be competing in the Razak Cup after a lapse of
about 20 years and their mission, according to Rajinder is: "To watch the
other teams play and assess our strength."
As Indonesia are yet to play any international matches and are in the
dark as to what the other teams are capable off, the Razak Cup will be a
spying mission for the Sea Games.
The Indonesian women are being coached by Pakistani Tanveer Arshad and
are in Malaysia to play a series of friendlies with State sides.
(END)
