Ticket sale deadline extended to Feb 15

15/01/2002

THE Malaysian Hockey Federation has decided to extend the 40 per cent
discount period for the 2002 Kuala Lumpur World Cup until Feb 15 (see
accompanying graphics).
The decision means that the earlier offer by Affinbank to take up the
balance of the 60 per cent of discounted tickets will not take place.
"Affinbank did not take up the offer to buy the tickets under the 40 per
cent discount and the earlier announcement was made after some
miscommunication between the bank and MHF," said MHF secretary S. Satgunam
yesterday.
This will be the third time that MHF have extended the 40 per cent
discount since the tickets went on sale more than two months ago. It was
learned that not many Malaysians have taken up the offer and thus MHF had
to keep extending the discounted period.
The MHF had initially placed the first deadline on Dec 31, 2001, then
extended it until Jan 5. Yesterday, it was extended to Feb 15 which means
the Malaysian public have until nine days to the World Cup, which is from
Feb 24 to March 9, to get discounted tickets.
"Even though we have set the deadline nine days from the World Cup, the
discounted rate is only valid until the 60 per cent of the total number of
tickets are snapped up. I advise the public to buy early and not wait
until the last minute to purchase tickets for the World Cup because they
might be snapped up earlier than the new deadline," said Satgunam.
The MHF will also use the Six-Nation, which starts on Friday, to embark
on a more aggressive publicity campaign to promote the World Cup.
"Hockey fans can buy the World Cup tickets at the National Hockey
Stadium during the Six-Nation. We will also arrange for a booth at the
official hotel, the Concorde Kuala Lumpur, for fans to make bookings for
the World Cup," said Satgunam.
About 300,000 tickets will be on offer for the 13-day World Cup and
there is a snag for fans who want to only watch one match in the evening
sessions.
For example, if hockey fans want to watch Malaysia play in the first
match on Feb 24 against Australia, they will have to purchase three
tickets and watch the Belgium v Spain (4.35pm), and the Holland v New
Zealand (6.35pm) matches before the Malaysia v Australia (8.35pm) match
begins at Stadium 1 in Bukit Jalil.
This is because the organisers will not be able to empty the stadium
after each match.
"There is no other alternative than to buy a team package because if one
wants to watch selected matches for the day, one has to buy three tickets
because there is no way that we can empty the stadium after each match and
then ask the fans to come in again," said Satgunam.
This also means that for a family of four to watch the Malaysia-
Australia opening match, they will have to fork out RM180 because they
must also buy tikets for the other two mathes, or take a chance and try
their luck at the tiket counters after the other two mathes have ended.
selvam@nstp.com.my
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