Juniors on parade

07/02/2003

THE Junior Hockey League (JHL) gets underway today with 22 teams battling
for honours in Divisions One and Two.
While the contenders can be easily separated from the pretenders even
before the start, the game itself looks primed for better days.
Tenaga Nasional Bhd looks the team to beat in Div 1 while in Div 2,
Malacca Municipal Council have staked a strong claim for the RM10,000
winner's cheque and a ticket to Div 1 next year.
Six teams from Div 1 and two from Div 2 will meet in the quarter-finals,
while the rest must be content with having exposed their youth in a major
tournament.
Yayasan Negri Sembilan (YNS), despite entering an inexperienced team
last year, still finished 10th in the 22-team league. This year their aim
is to stay in Div 1.
"We have retained ten players from the last JHL, and will be exposing
ten new players this year. We realise that it will be very difficult to
remain in Div 1 with this raw side but we are not worried because our
sponsors (YNS), at this stage, are more keen on exposing Negri Sembilan
youth than winning titles,"said YNS coach S. Chandran.
All YNS players are Negri Sembilan-based. The State is determined to
make hockey the popular sport it once was in Negri Sembilan.
The State, who are preparing a side for the 2004 Malaysia Games which
they will be hosting, will expose a total of 40 juniors in the JHL. The
second NS team competing, Datuk Taha of Gemencheh, is also well known for
exposing their youth.
Datuk Taha have the distinction of producing three players who made it
into the national squad via the JHL.
Suhaimi Ibrahim, Nor Azlan Rahim and Fairuz Affendy were given the break
by Datuk Taha when they were noticed by national selectors.
The exploits of the trio have brought Gemencheh out of the shadow of the
more illustrious Tunku Besar Secondary School, Tampin, where hockey used
to thrive once.
The National Sports Council (NSC) had noticed the sterling work of
`cikgu' Roslan Mohammad and subsequently, laid a small patch of artificial
turf at the school for the students to train on.
Playing in the JHL for the third time this year, SMK Datuk Taha are not
unduly worried about being written off even before the tournament starts.
"I am quite happy to be given the `no hopers' tag as long as my boys can
play and enjoy the sport. I have a young and untested side who can rise to
the occassion, so don't be surprised," said Roslan.
Last year Datuk Taha finished 14th and were relegated to Div 3 but it is
unlikely that their stay there will be for long.
As YNS are in Div One, the Gemencheh side `gave away' five of their
experienced players to the Seremban-based team.
The five Khairi Mansor, Fairuz Yahya, Hafiz Zin, Azwar Hafiz Zulkifli
and Rais Shah, all played for Datuk Taha in the Champion Schools last
December.
Anderson XYBASE is the other team who have produced star players, but
will be parading mostly Form Three players this year.
So, it looks like not only the teams which make the last eight can be
considered winners, but overall, 440 youth will get the opportunity to
parade their skills, and possibly, get noticed by the national selectors.
HOW THEY FARED LAST YEAR
1 - Telecoms Pahang
2 - Malaysia Sports School
3 - Tenaga Nasional Berhad
4 - Ipoh City Hall *
5 - Anderson
6 - Petaling Jaya MC
7 - Serdang HC *
8 - Olak-MPK
9 - Terengganu Schools SC
10 - Yayasan NS
11 - Seberang Prai MC *
12 - Penang Indians
13 - Johor Sports Council
14 - SMK Datuk Mohd Taha
15 - English College
16 - Kerian District
17 - KL Schools Sports Council
18 - AFATS
19 - Synergy HC
20 - Malay Mail
21 - Perak Malays
22 - Taiping District *
(* Not participating this year)
PRIZE MONEY
Overall Champions: RM25,000
Runners-up: RM15,000
Third: RM10,000
Fourth: RM5,000
Fair-play: RM3,000
Div 1 Champions: RM10,000
Div 2 Champions: RM10,000
(END)