Juniors - from men to boys

12/10/2001

By Jugjet Singh in Hobart
TIME and again, Group D in the Junior World Cup has been dubbed "the Group
of Death" by coaches from Argentina, Germany and New Zealand. But as they
live to battle on, Malaysia's campaign for top honours in Hobart, lies
buried.
It no longer matters how Malaysia play their last match in the Group
against Germany on Saturday. The damage was done yesterday by Argentina
and now Malaysia will play in the losers pool and hope for a decent
placing in the tournament.
The death knell, it appears was the third goal against New Zealand that
was not only disallowed but left Malaysia beaten 2-3, losing their skipper
Chuah Boon Huat and their confidence as well.
The cold and windy nights of Hobart are not kind to losers, and most of
the juniors must have gone to bed that night as kids feeling dejected and
sore with the umpire's decision.
Sadly, they didn't wake up as men the next morning ready and eager to
set things right. And as it turned out, they were easy meat for an average
Argentine side who were themselves surprised by their 5-0 win.
Which makes one wonder if mental strength was ever packed into their
survival kits for major tournaments like this.
Being young professionals, they should have been taught by now how to
handle situations like these.
After three years of intensive preparations for the Junior World Cup,
which included playing tours and numerous friendlies and competitions, the
juniors did look like a side good enough to make the second round and
maybe go even further. But they cracked under the first signs of adversity
and failed to recover.
Watching the juniors from South Korea, Germany, Spain, Holland and India
play here makes one wonder where we went wrong.
India hammered Canada 5-0 in their opener and then whipped Scotland 7-1
yesterday. They are really riding high in this tournament and eventhough
some say that they have been placed in an easy group, their skills have
mesmerized many and they look like a good bet to go the distance.
We have the best facilities in the region, good coaches and a supportive
hockey federation which does not mind pumping in the money at the drop of
a coin if it is for the betterment of hockey.
The Tasmanian Hockey Centre can only sit 5,000 fans with no seats at all
behind both the goalmouths. The fans there sit on the grass on a hillock
and for comparison, their main pitch looks worse than the second pitch at
the Kuala Lumpur Hockey Stadium.
The second pitch in Tasmania gets waterlogged five minutes after a
slight shower and looks like a paddy field back home.
But it looks like facilities do not matter if one has the desire and the
mental strength to succeed. Two Tasmanian players are with the Australian
juniors while another is with the New Zealand team. All three are budding
world class players and the Tasmanian papers proudly write about their
connection in the Junior World Cup almost daily.
But yesterday, the main paper in Tasmania, The Mercury, had the
Malaysian sob story as their sports lead and the heading said it all
"Bitter Blast At Umpires."
Australia hammered Chile 7-1 on the same day but only made the inside
lead because the Malaysian story took centrestage while footage of
incidents showing Chua and Jiwa Mohan having a shoving match with the
Kiwis were shown time and again on national television.
It was a sad episode of Malaysian hockey beamed to the world for all to
see, but all is not lost yet because we do have a good team made up of
skillful players.
What they need is courage, resilience, and the will to fight back and
win when they have been abused.
Hopefully, the Tasmanian lesson will teach them all that. And don't we
know players like Chua, Jiwan, S.Shanker and K.Logan Raj can do with that
when they come on for Malaysia in the World Cup in Kuala Lumpur next year.
(END)