Taha have pitch advantage

20/06/2002

SEKOLAH Menengah Datuk Taha in Gemencheh has something the rest of the
schools in the country do not - an artififial hockey pitch right at their
doorsteps.
This luxury is not even accorded to the Bukit Jalil Sports School, who
have to walk quite a distance to the National Hockey Stadium, as the
artificial hockey pitch is in the compound of SM Datuk Taha itself.
And with the advantage of being able to train daily at the pitch, SM
Datuk Taha are among the frontrunners in the MHF-Milo-Admiral-NSC Junior
Hockey League begining this weekend.
"The half pitch was given to us by the National Sports Council (NSC)
because we have been consistent in hockey over the years. The boys have
been training hard and we hope to be among the top four when the JHL
ends," said coach Roslan Mohamed.
When Roslan started teaching at SM Datuk Taha more than 15 years ago,
the Gemencheh school were the whipping boys in Negri Sembilan as Tunku
Besar Secondary School of Tampin, under teacher V. Sivapathasundram
reigned supreme.
But Tunku Besar Secondary has since given up on hockey and the fact that
the NSC saw it fit to send the old turf from the Tun Razak Stadium to
Gemencheh speaks volumes of Roslan's dedication.
And since 1998, the school has started doing what Tunku Besar used to be
good at, producing calibre players for the national side.
Suhaimi Ibrahim, who starred in the 1998 Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth
Games, is Roslan's student. And now, Fairuz Ramli and Nor Azlan Rahim are
graduates from the `sleepy hollow' in SM Datuk Taha.
Datuk Taha started playing in the Junior League in 1998, then under the
banner of Yayasan Negri Sembilan, and finished runnersup in 1999. Under
the school's name, Datuk Taha made their debut in 2000 and finished sixth,
and last year they ended up eighth.
They have retained six players from last year, namely Hafiz Zani,
Shahrul Amran, K. Amuthan, Affendi Baharom, Fairuz Yahaya and Azrizal
Aziman.
"The team has been shaping up well in the practice matches as we drew 3-
3 with the Armed Forces Commando team, beat AFATS 3-0 and drew with Olak
2-2," said Roslan.
And if SM Datuk Taha can overcome Malaysia Sports School and Telekom
Pahang in their group, they are almost assured of a semi-final berth.
(END)