Poon: No exciting talent spotted

24/04/2003

THE MHF-Milo-Admiral-NSC Junior Hockey League has reached the quarter-
finals stage, but sadly, Malaysian Hockey Federation Special Projects
Manager Poon Fook Loke will submit a gloomy report to the parent body.
Poon was at almost all JHL venues, but did not spot any new and exciting
talents. Even worse, he discovered the form of established players had
dropped tremendously.
"I am very sad to say that I could not find any new and exciting talents
in the JHL this season. I am very concerned with the trend, especially the
drop in form of established players.
"I will submit a report to the MHF and the matter should be pursued by
the various committees to find out the root cause of the slide in junior
talent," said Poon.
Poon, a sterling player in his heydays, also found out that the JHL
coaches have reached a stagnant stage, and need urgent help.
"The JHL coaches are using the same training and warm-up methods without
trying out new techniques to get the best out of their players. They
should be more adventurous and try something new to get the attention of
their players and make them better," said Poon.
Johor Sports Council, which is made up of players from the Bandar
Penawar Sports School, was among the teams which did not have a single
player worth a national call-up.
"The Bandar Penawar Sports Schools boys were very disappointing and I
could not find anything exciting about the way they played. But if I
really dig deep, Malacca Municipal Council has two players who can be
nurtured further," said Poon.
He was talking about Nor Ikram Sulaiman and Ahmad Anuar Sham Kamal.
"Ikram and Anuar have shown that they have sound basics and with proper
guidance, they can become better players. Tenaga Nasional's S. Selvaraju
stood out among the more established players as he has managed to control
his short temper and channel it to play good hockey instead," said Poon.
Selvaraju played for Malaysia Sports School last season but was thrown
out after he received a red card for throwing the stick at the technical
desk during a match.
But now, under Tenaga coach K. Rajan, he has turned out to be a quality
player and helped Tenaga finish second in Division One. Some of the
national selectors had given up on him last year, but now, he has given
them reason for a re-think.
S. Mahendran of Malay Mail has also caught the eye of Poon: "He is a
good goalgetter and has the ability to get out of sticky situations."
Poon will be selecting 25 JHL players for a training stint on May 12-20.
"I will be recalling mostly the project squad players as no new talent has
impresed me enough. The selection will be done after MHF name the players
for the European stint," said Poon.
(END)