Chairil declines armband

28/01/1999

THE Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) yesterday named 16 players for the
five-nation tournament in Cairo on Feb 2-9. But the surprise was when
Chairil Anwar declined to captain the team.
With youngsters Jiwa Moham, Suhaimi Ibrahim, M. Kaliswaran and Razak
Saidin upfront, Malaysia are likely to face an uphill battle against
Canada, Kenya, Egypt and India.
"The selection committee agreed to include the juniors for exposure,"
said MHF deputy president Datuk Seri P. Alagendra.
Yesterday, MHF president Sultan Azlan Shah was at the National Hockey
Stadium to witness a friendly between the Egypt-bound squad and Project
2001, who will be heading for a tour of Perth on Feb 3-14.
To some extent, MHF were left with no choice when they named a
relatively young side as seniors like Lailin Abu Hassan, Nor Saiful Zaini
and R. Shanker have retired while others like Mirnawan Nawawi, K. Kevan
Raj, Maninderjit Singh and Nasihin Nubli had other obligations.
Chairil, 26, the oldest player in the team, refused to be skipper as he
felt his game would be affected. Instead, 22-year-old S. Kuhan will now
wear the armband.
Izwan Suhardi was named goalkeeper along with Roslan Jamaluddin.
Alagendra said the two teams will re-group after their assignments and
the best of the 50 trainees will be picked for an eight-nation tournament
in Dubai in March.
After Perth, Project 2001 will play four friendlies against the touring
Western Australian Institute of Sports (WAIS) team.
"We have arranged for the friendlies in Ipoh, Penang and Kuala Lumpur on
March 1-6 and five players from the Cairo five-nation squad will return to
the Project squad for the friendlies."
The five are Jiwa Mohan, Chua Boon Huat, Madzli Ikmar, K. Logan Raj and
Syayrim Uda Karim.
Senior squad: Jiwa Mohan, Azlin Fairuz, Chua Boon Huat, K. Gobinathan,
S. Kuhan (capt), Nor Azlan Bakar, Chairil Anwar, Shaiful Azli, Madzli
Ikmar, Suhaimi Ibrahim, M. Kaliswaran, K. Logan Raj, Syayrim Uda Karim,
Razak Saidin, Izwan Suhardi (gk), Roslan Jamaluddin (gk).
Officials - Manager: Wallace Tan; coach: Yahya Atan; umpire: S.
Sagayanathan.
Junior squad: Saiful Azhar (gk), Mohamed Khuzmer (gk), Adrian Richard
Doss, Shahzan Amir, Mohamed Amin, Fadzli Anuar, Shankar Shanmugam, Nor
Effandy Ramli, Redzuan Ponirin, Nor Azlan Rahim, V. Vinodhan, Razilee
Yahya, Shahrul Syawal, Zahirin Zakaria, Indra Hadi, Faizal Daud, Shahrizal
Zainal Abidin, Mohamed Fairuz.
Team officials - Manager-coach: Colin Sta Maria; asst coach: Zulkifli
Abbas.
(END)