Bazli out of Poznan squad

15/08/2003

THE Malaysian Hockey Federation Selection Committee ignored an outstanding
goalkeeper and instead decided to blood a 16-year-old striker in the
Under-21 FIH Youth Carnival in Poznan, Poland on Aug 18-24.
Malaysia, the defending champions, will not have goalkeeper Ahmad Bazli,
who was voted goalkeeper-of-the-tournament in the Youth Carnival last
year.
The newcomer is Mohamed Razie Rahim, who last turned out for Malaysia
Sports School in the Junior Hockey League.
"We did not select Bazli because his form has dropped tremendously and
the other two goalkeepers Firdaus Razali and Hanafi Hassan have overtaken
him.
"We have also decided to blood 16-year-old Razie because he is fast
becoming an asset up front," said team manager Poon Fook Loke after the
Selection Committee meeting yesterday.
Two `problem' players also received a lifeline yesterday. S. Selvaraju,
who was benched from the Malaysia Sports School side when he received a
red card for throwing his stick at the technical desk during last year's
Junior Hockey League, and Megat Azrafiq, whose knee injury forced him out
of the Champions Challenge, were among the relieved faces when the names
were announced by MHF deputy president Tan Sri P. Alagendra.
"I am very grateful because the MHF have given me a chance to play in
Poland. I have always given my best, but thought my hockey career was over
after the silly outburst during the JHL. Now I will be out to justify my
selection," said Selvaraju.
"We have retained eight players from the gold medal-winning side from
last year and since the tournament has been upgraded from under-18 to
under-21, we have also included five players who have experience in the
senior side," said Alagendra.
And the MHF, who had a tough time selecting the team because very little
separated the 30 players in training, will make sure they do not lose
those who were dropped yesterday.
"The 12 players not selected today (yesterday) will report for training
on Aug 28 where a fitness test will be conducted to see if they have been
following the programme. And since this are the players who will, more or
less, represent the country in the 2005 Junior World Cup, we want to keep
them on their toes," added Alagendra.
About 50 per cent of the current batch will not be eligible to play in
the 2005 Junior World Cup, but all of them will be able to contribute in
the World Cup Qualifiers in Karachi next year.
In Poland, Malaysia have been placed in Group A with Germany, Pakistan
and Polish league champions Gniezno.
India look set to dominate Group B as their opponents are Egypt, France
and Poland.
The squad - Goalkeepers: Mohamed Firdaus Razali, Hanafi Hassan
Defenders: Engku Abdul Malek (capt), S. Bubalan, Sallehin Ghani, Megat
Azrafiq Termizi, Mohamed Sufian
Midfield: Mohamed Fakhrulrazi, Jivan Mohan, P. Prabahkaran, Azli Misron,
Razi Ismail
Forwards: Kelvinder Singh, Shahrun Nabil, S. Selvaraju, Tengku Ahmad
Tajuddin, Ismail Abu, Razie Rahim.
(END)