Juniors robbed in opener

11/10/2001

HOBART: The Malaysian Juniors showed their true colours in the opening
match at the Junior World Cup at the Tasmanian Hockey Centre in Hobart
yesterday.
For most of the match they played like champions, but when the
aggressive Kiwis got the better of them, Chua Boon Huat and Jiwa Mohan
received the marching orders and all hell broke loose.
Chua was hauled up for abusing the umpires after the match ended and
received a one-match suspension while team manager Arrifin Ghani was
issued with a formal warning by tournament director Peter Cathouses for
refusing to sign the match sheet at the end of the match.
The match was 63 minutes old and Malaysia were traling 3-2 when Jiwa
Mohan found K. Logan Raj all alone on the goalline and played a pass to
him. Logan pushed the ball back in and Chua rushed in and scored the
equaliser with a reverse stick flick.
Dutch umpire Rob Cate blew for goal and pointed to the middle of the
field, the Malaysians players and a handful of fans on the stands danced
with joy for about a minute and just when the match was about to restart,
the second umpire, David Wallis from Scotland and who was in the Malaysian
half of the field, blew his whistle and stopped the game.
Wallis consulted the Dutchman and after a few seconds Cate blew for no-
goal.
Even the Kiwis were taken aback by the umpire's decision to overrule the
goal which he had awarded earlier as none of them had protested the goal.
Cate pointed to his leg, indicating that Chua had stopped the ball with
his leg before scoring the goal. When the goal was scored, Chua's back was
towards Cate and he could not see the infringement but Wallis was a good
50 yards away and many wondered how he could have spotted the fault from
that distance as there was a circle of Kiwis around him when he scored.
The match was robust from the start and there was a lot of pushing and
shoving in which the smaller built Malaysians were constantly bullied by
the towering Kiwis. It was plain from the first whistle that New Zealand
were out to agitate the Malaysians.
So in the 65th minute when Chua was prodded from behind by defender Shaw
Hayden, he turned around to confront the towering Kiwi who instantly
raised his stick violently and hit the face of Jivan Mohan who was
standing behind.
Elder brother Jiwa lost his cool and pushed Hayden and it almost became
a free for all with some serious shoving and pushing going on between both
sides while both the match umpires stood rooted to the ground without
lifting a finger to cool things down.
Coach Yahya Atan had no choice but to enter the pitch and pulled Jiwa
and Chua away from the mayhem. Right after Yahya managed to cool down his
players, Cate hauled up Chua, Jiwa and Shaw and showed them the yellow
card.
The Malaysians took some time to settle down while New Zealand, led by
skipper Ryan Archibald, took their chances well and Dean Ritani sounded
the board in the 11th minute which awoke the Malaysian juniors from their
slumber.
Four minutes later, Malaysia won a penalty corner and Jiwa slammed in
the equaliser.
And in the 18th minute, Jiwa was again on target off a field goal with a
well placed shot to the top of the roof and the scoreboard read; Malaysia
2 New Zealand 1.
But a defensive error in the 25th minute, coupled with bad judgment from
goalkeeper Shaiful Azhar, saw Blair Hopping equalising for New Zealand.
After the breather, play became more robust and just three minutes into
the match, Zaharin Zakaria pushed a New Zealand player and was shown the
yellow card. He was out for a good 10 minutes while Malaysia struggled to
defend with 10 men.
In the 53rd minute, P. Prabahkaran gave away the ball to Phillip Burows
who cooly slotted in the third goal.
Malaysia lost the match and their skipper and today they face a stubborn
Argentinian side who lost to the Germans yesterday. They must beat
Argentina or it's all over for them in Hobart.
"We were unlucky that the Dutch umpire overruled the goal and we lost an
opportunity to share points with New Zealand. But I am just wondering,
would that goal have been overruled if, say, Holland or Germany were
playing against New Zealand?", pondered Yahya Atan in the post match
interview.
"Malaysia are not going to file a formal protest on the way both the
umpires handled the game but for hockey's sake, I would like to make a
stand.
"If the FIH are serious about developing hockey among the lower ranked
teams, they should do something to stop biased umpiring. The top countries
in the world should not be allowed to play with 13 men on their side while
we struggle to make headway," said Yahya. jugjet@nstp.com.my
RESULTS
GROUP A
AUSTRALIA 7 CHILE 1
ENGLAND 1 IRELAND 0 GROUP B
FRANCE 2 SOUTH AFRICA 3
SOUTH KOREA 2 HOLLAND 2 GROUP D
MALAYSIA 2 NEW ZEALAND 3
ARGENTINA 1 GERMANY 2
(END)