First day shocker for Lissek

23/04/2002

NATIONAL hockey coach Paul Lissek conducted his first Busan Asian Games
training session, and more than half the squad failed to show up at the
National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil yesterday.
But Lissek was not the least worried about the absentees, because he is
not interested in players who are not interested in donning national
colours anymore.
"If they want to leave the sport, by all means go. I will not stop
anyone who wants to quit the sport because it will be unfair for young
players who are fighting to don national colours.
"If we keep persuading players who want to quit to return, when will the
young ones get a chance to play? Also I will be sending the wrong signals
if I do that," said Lissek.
It is well known that the German's passion and commitment for the sport
is not shared by most of the national players. Lissek's training methods
are said to be too tough while he is accused of being too posessive
because he has scheduled national training in the midst of the Malaysia
Hockey League (MHL).
While a handful of players had valid reasons to stay away from training,
most of the other players did not even bother to offer excuses for not
attending.
"Invitations were sent out to 42 players but only 19 turned up for
national training. The players who had valid excuses were S. Kuhan, K.
Logan Raj, K. Keevan Raj, S. Shanker, Jiwa Mohan, Chairil Anwar and
Mirnawan Nawawi.
"I don't know why the rest of the players did not turn out," said
Lissek.
Logan and Keevan, whose grandfather passed away on Friday, were away
attending prayers, Chairil Anwar called in sick and Mirnawan had some work
commitments.
World Cup goalkeeper Nasihin Nubli, Jiwa Mohan and S. Shanker have
approached the coach and told him that they will not be available for the
Asian Games in Busan on Sept 29 to Oct 14. And the only World Cup player
who has thrown in the towel is defender Maninderjit Singh.
Nor Azlan Bakar, Tajol Rosli, Suhaimi Ibrahim (who dumped the national
team just before the KL World Cup) and V. Vinodhan were among those on the
absentee list.
Nor Azlan Bakar and Maninderjit played a crucial role in defending the
Malaysian goalmouth during the World Cup and it is said that Nor Azlan
will also send in his quit letter soon.
This means two young players will get the chance to don national colours
as defenders.
And with Mirnawan also contemplating quitting the sport, someone else
will get the chance to wear the armband in Busan.
Lissek, who watched almost 70 per cent of the Malaysian Hockey League
matches, has called up four new players who have impressed him.
"Sivanesan Pillay (Sapura), Azrul Effendy (Maybank), Abdul Malek
(Maybank) and Nagarajan (Sapura) impressed me during the MHL matches and I
have been called them up for national training.
"I will monitor their progress and who knows, we might have new stars in
Busan," said Lissek.
ATTENDED TRAINING - Shaiful Azli, K. Gobinathan, Madzli Ikmar, T.
Sivanesan Pillay, Izwan Hasan, Amin Rahim, Reduan Ponirin, Norazlan Rahim,
Jivan Mohan, Riduan Nasir, Azlan Misron, Azrul Effendy Bistaman, Engku
Abdul Malek, A. Nagarajan, Roslan Jamaluddin, Firdaus Razali, Mohamed
Hanafi Hassan, S. Kumar, Rodhanizam Radzi.
DID NOT ATTEND - Nor Azlan Bakar, Fairuz Ramli, Tajol Rosli, Shukur
Adam, Chairil Anwar, Nasihin Nubli, S. Kuhan, Jiwa Mohan, K. Keevan Raj,
V. Vinodhan, K. Logan Raj, Mohamed Fairuz Hamsani, S. Selvaraju, Norhanape
Omar, S. Shanker, Mirnawan Nawawi, Megat Azrafiq, Mohamed Supian Mohamed,
Mohamed Fikri, Zulkifli Rejab, Hoesni Rahmat, Suhaimi Ibrahim.
jugjet@nstp.com.my
(END)