No major changes for BGM

THE Malaysian Hockey Federation has set October 26 for the biennial
general meeting and the early indications are that there are not going to
be any changes in the top echelon.
President Sultan Azlan Shan and his deputy Tan Sri P. Alagendra did not
make any mention in the council meeting yesterday of vacating their seats.
The council meeting, attended by all affiliates except for Malacca,
Kedah and Pahang, also decided that another meeting will be held on August
18 to table matters arising during the BGM.
The MHF is also trying its best to hold the Azlan Shah Cup which was
supposed to be held this month but was postponed because of lack of
interest in the teams which were invited.
"We will hold the Azlan Shah Cup at a later date and maybe invite
Pakistan and India this time because most of the European countries have
declined invitation while Argentina did not even bother to reply
eventhough we sent them two reminders," said MHF secretary S. Satgunam.
On the issue of young players calling it quits from the national team,
Satgunam said the council has decided to take a strong stand on the issue.
"We have decided to review their funding from Yayasan Hoki Malaysia and
also hold back their retirement benefits.
"The council will meet again and maybe we will decide on a stronger form
of action," said Satgunam.
Since the Kuala Lumur World Cup ended, Maninderjit Singh, Mirnawan
Nawawi, S. Shankar, Nor Azlan Bakar, Nasihin Nubli, Jiwa Mohan, Jivan
Mohan, Tajol Rosli and Khairul Nizam have called it quits and right now
the average age of the national team is 22 with Chairil Anwar being the
oldest player at 29.
Chairman of the Schools Committe Lt Jen (r) Datuk Seri Abdul Manap
Ibrahim came out strongly to say that his committee has not been defunct
as reported.
"We have had informal meetings with the schools representatives. I agree
that there has not been any formal meeting since the committee was formed,
but that does not mean that we are defunct," said Manap.
When asked how come his committe members do not know that they are in
the Schools Committee, he said: "It is the job of the states to tell them
that they have been selected for the Schools Committe. If the states do
not do the job, why blame me?"
Technical and Development Committee chairman Roy Rajasingam also blamed
the states for the flak his committe has been receiving from the media.
"For your information, we have been having meetings regularly and
contrary to reports, we have been functioning as it ought to be. Since
1992 onwards, a number of development plans and blueprints have been
prepared and have been used by former coaches Terry Walsh, Volker Knapp
and the present coach Paul Lissek.
"The MHF blueprint is endorsed by the National Sports Council and
together, it is implemented in possible areas but priority was given to
the Commonwealth Games and the World Cup.
"But that does not mean there was no grassroots development as
affiliates were handed blueprints and while some have adopted them like
Kuala Lumpur, sadly many other states chose not to fully inplement them.
"So the Technical and Development Committee cannot be blamed for things
out of their control because we only formulate policies and programmes and
if states choose not to implement, we can't do anything," said Rajasingam.
Competitions Committee chairman Datuk Abdul Jalil Abdul Majid also said
that his committee has been meting regularly, eventhough he had said
earlier that competitions were run without his knowledge.
"And when I cannot attend the competitions committee meetings, I fax a
letter saying that I endorse whatever decisions that have been taken
during my absence.
"So everything is over the board and done properly," said Jalil.
(END)