Tenaga retain League title

12/08/2003

TENAGA Nasional Bhd retained their Malaysia Hockey League title in style
when they beat Maybank 2-1 at the Kuala Lumpur Hockey Stadium yesterday.
It was a hat-trick of League titles for Tenaga, and now they will be
pitching for the elusive overall title.
"Even though we have won the League title for the third time in a row,
the last time the overall title came our way was in 1992. So, naturally,
we will be going out for the double this year," said Tenaga coach K.
Rajan.
Tenaga were the overall champions in 1989, 1987 and then landed the
double in 1992, but for the past three seasons, the overall title keeps
evading them.
With the win yesterday, Tenaga pocketed RM20,000 while Sapura finished
second on the standings and their purse is RM10,000.
The other teams which qualified for the quarter-finals are Ernst &
Young, Maybank, Bank Simpanan Nasional, Royal Malaysian Customs, Royal
Malay Regiment and Pahang Sports Council.
The quarter-finals first leg starts on Aug 29, and Tenaga will face
eighth-placed Pahang Sports Council and they should have no problems
reaching the last four with ease.
Yesterday, Tenaga fielded the best players, and the only regular reserve
on the starting line-up was goalkeeper M. Nadarajan, 33, who put up a
sterling display to stop the Maybank forwards.
Maybank shocked Tenaga with a 15th minute goal by Ismail Abu but Nor
Saiful Zaini slammed in the equaliser in the 21st minute and the winner
was scored by Nor Azlan Rahim in the 25th minute.
"Nadarajan asked to be fielded today and showed that he still has it in
him to play in the MHL for a few more years," said Rajan.
At the Azlan Shah Stadium, Royal Malay Regiment (RMR) completed their
fixtures on a high note when they outplayed Navy Dolphin 7-2.
However it was only in the 30th minute when RMR really took control over
the Navy boys after being held 2-2 after 25 minutes of play.
But it was smooth sailing all the way after that as they knocked home
five goals.
RMR, who had already qualified for the quarter-finals, took the lead in
the fifth minute through Hong Kong import Arif Ali but five minutes later
Navy drew level with a field goal from Mohamed Noor Saad.
RMR regained the lead in the 21st minute through Zulmadi Ariffin but the
Naval team fought back to draw level for the second time four minutes
later through the efforts of Mohamed Nasir Sobri.
Arif scored his second goal in the 30th minute with Zulmadi, Supri Mat
Jusoh, Sulaiman Bujang and Ramli Ismail completing the rout.
(END)