RM1.8m flop' finishes 12th

21/10/2001

By Jugjet Singh in Hobart

THE pathetic performance of the Malaysians in the Junior World Cup in
Hobart was summed up very well against South Africa in the classification
matches yesterday.
Malaysia, who were leading 3-0 up till the 44th minute, threw away the
game like they did in every match here and finished 12th in the 16-team
tournament.
Yesterday, they looked like they were not interested in the match after
taking a big lead and in the second half, started clowning around with the
South Africans, but the last laugh was on them.
Chua Boon Huat scored off a penalty corner in the sixth minute, and in
the 27th minute, stepped up to flick in the second goal after K.Logan Raj
was brought down in the semicircle.
In the 40th minute, Fairuz Ramli scored off a penalty corner rebound but
that was it.
The team became too cocky after that and South Africa started their
comeback with a 44th minute penalty corner which was tucked in by Ian
Symons. In the 51st minute, South Africa scored another penalty corner and
this time Ryan Ravenscroft got his name on the scoreboard.
Malaysia were totally out of the match after that and were forced deep
into defence as the South Africans became bolder and they equalised in the
60th when Ravenscroft sounded the board for his second goal.
After sudden death extra time they went into penalty strokes. Shanker
scored, Boon Huat and Jiwa missed, and South Africa went on to win4-2 in
flicks.
The entire Junior World Cup has been a mockery, for the Malaysian
challenge never took off after they lost to New Zealand 3-2 in the first
round.
They blamed the umpires for disallowing the third goal which would have
seen them sharing points, but it is clear for all to see that the effort
and money that was pumped into the junior squad went down the drain in
Tasmania.
In the 1993 Junior World Cup in Barcelona, they finished 11th out of 12
teams and failed to qualify for the 1997 Junior World Cup in Milton
Keynes.
For the 2001 edition, we pipped Pakistan but by the look of things it
was a big mistake to qualify itself.
After the South African match, coach Yahya Atan started talking about
the next qualifiers: "We must forget Hobart and start preparing for the
future."
But with the bunch that we now have, the future of the senior side also
looks bleak because there are plans to draft 12, yes 12 players from the
junior squad into the national side preparing for the Kuala lumpur World
Cup because back home, the senior side is also experiencing numerous
problems from marital to mental.
All the 16 juniors that played in Hobart, especially Jiwa Mohan, Chua,
Shanker and Logan Raj, do not deserve a promotion because they are a
mentally weak lot.
They are physically inferior and will never be able to deliver, no
matter how much of money is spent on them.
It will be better business sense for the Malaysia Hockey Federation to
concentrate on the under-18 team, and this time, conduct an IQ test
together with a fitness test during selection because hockey is an
intelligent game and Malaysia have no right to insult it. RESULTS
CLASSIFICATION
(5th-8th placing)
AUSTRALIA 4 SOUTH KOREA 1
SPAIN 3 HOLLAND 2
(9th-12th placing)
NEW ZEALAND 2 FRANCE 0
MALAYSIA 3 SOUTH AFRICA 3
(S Africa 4-2 on penalties)
(13th-16th placing)
SCOTLAND 3 IRELAND 2
CHILE 2 CANADA 1
jugjet@nstp.com.my
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