Yahya on a mission

18/12/2000

THE Seventh Junior Hockey World Cup in Hobart on 8-21 Oct 2001 is
definitely going to be an uphill battle for Malaysia but coach Yahya Atan
is not worried, in fact, he is quite confident.
And he has reason to be so.
From the 37 players in training right now, Yahya will trim the squad to
22 on Wednesday and start preparing the core of the team to battle
Germany, New Zealand and Argentina in Group D.
"I am quite happy with he progress of the team so far as there has been
some keen competition to fight for a place in Phase Two of training.
"And of the 22 I will be selecting, 12 are already established players
so I will only need to work on another six to form the Junior World Cup
side," said Yahya yesterday.
The 12 regulars who will surely be named on Wednesday are Chua Boon
Huat, M. Jiwa Mohan, Nor Azlan Rahim, K. Logan Raj, Tajol Rosli, Mohamed
Zaharin Zakaria, Redzuan Ponirin, S. Shankar, Fairuz Ramli, Saiful Azhar
Affendi (goalkeeper), Amin Rahim and Azlan Misron.
These players have been playing in the Malaysia Hockey League and a case
to point is the growing confidence of Chua to score goals, something which
the senior side lacks greatly.
And if Yahya manages to make men out of the junior boys, then Malaysia
will also have a a good senior side for the 2002 World Cup in Kuala
Lumpur.
So there is no room for Yahya to fail in his mission in Hobart.
Yahya was appointed as the junior coach early this year and by April he
whipped up a side which finished third in the Asian Cup to qualify for the
Junior World Cup. His assistant is Zulkifli Abbas.
In the Asian Cup, Malaysia beat Pakistan 3-1 and sounded a warning to
the rest of the world that they are dead serious about regaining lost
ground after failing to qualify for the Junior World Cup for the first
time four years ago in Milton Keynes.
In Malaysia's revival, Pakistan juniors were delt a severe blow as the
defeat meant that they will not be playing in the Junior World Cup for the
first time since its inception in 1979.
But Malaysia are placed in a group of death in Hobart and there is
little room for mistakes. Germany will be naturally hard to beat, New
Zealand beat Australia Under-21 side 6-1 in a three-Test series to qualify
and Argentina have always been an unpredictable side.
Of the three, New Zealand's thumping win over Australia is the one to
worry about most.
"Our aim is to finish top-two in the initial round which means we must
beat New Zealand and Argentina to make the next round," said Yahya.
And he might just be able to pull it off because the juniors in training
right now are the best Malaysia have ever assembled and the world knows
it.
Fairus Ramli, who was forced to skip Phase One because he had to
complete his practical course in computer studies has been keeping himself
busy in the Malaysia Hockey League playing for Malacca Municipal Council
and has been promising. He will train with the rest in Phase Two and Yahya
has a chief striker alongside Chua in the making in him.
Nor Azlan, who was forced to skip the Sydney Olympics because of a road
accident, is also back and raring for a place in the starting lineup so
Yahya will be spoilt for choice when he names his playing team in the
Junior World Cup starting list.
If we fail in Hobart, the senior side will definitely have a torrid time
in the 2002 World Cup. A LOOK AT OUR RIVALS
* PAKISTAN men's hockey team management wants to play top teams at home
to maximise home advantage in the lead-up to the Champions Trophy in
Lahore in Nov 2001.
They have expressed concern that failure to play top teams at home might
prove detrimental to their efforts to win the Champions Trophy.
"That the international hockey calendar has not been finalised will also
work against us," said an official.
He noted that Pakistan have only confirmed participation in the Azlan
Shah Invitational in Kuala Lumpur in Aug 2001 `and the others are
hanging'.
The official said ideally a tournament here should be held six months
ahead of the Champions Trophy.
"We have to take full advantage of playing the Champions Trophy at home
and what better way than to play the top teams here ahead of the
tournament," he said.
Pakistan have been invited for several tournaments next year including a
proposed eight-nation and 10-nation in Cairo and Dhaka respectively
between Feb-March.
Then, there is also a four-nation in Germany in June.
There is also talk of reviving the India-Pakistan Test series. However,
due to strained relations between the two nations, this Test series may be
played in Dubai.
* THE Japanese are determined to make a comeback to the ranks of the
Asian hockey elite, and view qualification for the Kuala Lumpur World Cup
2002 as their most important objective in 2001.
A Japanese Hockey Association (JHA) official said the national team are
down to play in several four-nation tournaments in preparation for
Edinburgh.
"We are still reeling from our Olympic debacle and we hope to redeem
ourselves by qualifying for the next World Cup," said the official.
Host nation Japan failed to make the cut for the Olympics when they lost
to Malaysia in a classification play-off match during the Osaka qualifying
tournament last April.
For Scotland, the Japanese are seen as among 10 teams who can grab one
of the seven remaining World Cup berths.
Utrecht '98 runner-up Spain, India, Argentina, Canada and Poland are the
early favourites to qualify while the fight for the last two spots is
likely to be between the Japanese, Belgium, the United States, Egypt and
host nation Scotland.
The other teams for the 16-nation tournament on July 17-29 are Russia,
Chile, Wales, France and Zimbabwe. A 16th nation have not confirmed their
entry.
Nations who have already qualified for the 2002 World Cup from March 4-
16 are hosts Malaysia, defending champions Holland, Asian champions Korea,
European champions Germany, American champions Cuba, Australia, Pakistan
and England.
(END)