FORMER International Lailin Abu Hassan (pic) will be in charge of Tenaga for the first time in the Malaysia Hockey League (MHL), and he has set his sights on at least one title.The MHL starts on Oct 17, and Tenaga are the TNB Cup holders, while Ernst and Young the League champions.
Tenaga have six national players, and a motley of former national players and are expected to be among the con tenders again.
“I was assistant to (K.) Rajan last season and we won the TNB Cup, and this year I feel the team is still strong enough to win one title again,” said Lailin.
Tenaga have national goalkeeper S. Kumar, who has been named as the skipper for the Hamburg Masters in Germany, and national players S. Selvaraju, Baljit Singh, Madzli Ikmar, Amin Rahim and Sallehin Ghani.
“We did some light training during the fasting month, and will resume training again on Monday. When the six players return from Germany, I will finally get a chance to train the full team,” said Lailin.
Last season, Tenaga took the lead off Selvaraju, but Zulkifli Rejab scored the equaliser for Ernst and Young, and the score stood until the extra-time whistle.
The penalty shoot-out went into sudden-death, and Kumar saved Suffian Mohamad’s stroke to hand Tenaga the title on a 7-6 score.
There are six teams in Division One and nine in Division Two.
The top-two teams in Division Two will join the six in Division One for the knock-out quarterfinals.
DIVISION ONE: Sapura, Ernst and Young, Maybank, Tenaga Nasional, National Juniors, Nur Insafi.
DIVISION TWO: Border Forces Club, Sekolah Sultan Alam Shah of Putrajaya, Royal Malay Regiment (RMR), Jurutera Letrik Jentera (JLJ), Dolphins, Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS), Bandar Penawar Sports School (BPSS), Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) and Universiti Malaysia Perlis (Unimap).
