Monday, December 29, 2008

Old La Sallians call for trials

OLD La Sallains Association of Klang (OLAK) hope to re-live their glory years, as they will be playing in their 15th Junior Hockey League (JHL) on Feb 6 with strong sponsorship backing.
OLAK are the only JHL team which has not missed a single season since it was incepted in 1995.
And they will be calling for and Open trial on Jan 3 and 4 at the Pandamaran Stadium in Klang.
OLAK have the distinction of winning the League title in 1997, 1998 and 1999 while their Overall title glory was achieved in 1998, 1999 and 2000.
“We have had some lean years after 2000, but we are working to make a greater impact this season. We have managed to secure strong sponsors, and hopefully have a good team after the selections are conducted,” said OLAK assistant team manager Philip Andrew de Silva.
Current national players Amin Rahim, Madzli Ikmar and national Juniors trainee Wong Khee Hon are some of OLAK’s products.
“We have some players who competed in the Selangor Under-18 with us, and are expecting players from Tereng ganu, Perak and Penang to attend our trials.”
Last season, OLAK finished fifth in Division One of the JHL, and for more information on the trials, call Philip at 019- 6491927 or 016-3037971.

New Year Bang for Juniors

THE NEW year will start with a bang for the National Juniors, as they will be involved in a Four-Nation tussle in the Australian Youth Olympics Festival Jan 14-18 in Sydney.
And they are expected to be tested to the limit because Junior World Cup runners-up Australia, India and Great Britain will also be using it to test their youth for the Junior World Cup, which Malaysia and Singapore will co-host on June 7-21, and will involve 20 teams playing in two groups.
The juniors, who took part in the Malaysia Hockey League, were far from impressive, and there is still much work to be done before one can call them an outfit.
Realising this, the Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) have planned for a series of team-building sessions, and military training is also on the cards.
“The juniors will be involved in team-building sessions because right now, we (MHF) notice that they are still a loose outfit. Hopefully, once they undergo motivation sessions and military-style training, their understanding will be much better,” said MHF secretary Hashim Yusoff.
Fitness is still a problem, and chief coach K. Rajan will be helped by personal from the National Sports Institute (NSI) in this area.
“Rajan will receive help from NSI fitness trainers to get the boys in shape, and we also plan to hold a four-nation in March, at the tournament venue as a final test for both the teams and logistics as well as the artificial pitch in Johor,” said Hashim.
Hashim also said a joint meeting with Singapore will be held on Jan 10, where a clearer picture will emerge on what has been done, and what needs to be done to avoid hiccups in the tournament.
“The management committee has endorsed Tan Sri Anwar Mohd Nor (former MHF president) as the tournament chair man, and after January 10, we will finalise more details.:
The teams which have qualified for the World Cup are defending champions Argentina, Australia, South Africa, Egypt, Malaysia, Singapore, India, South Korea, Pakistan, Japan, Spain, Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, England, Poland, Russia, Chile, US and New Zealand.
And the juniors will be involved in a few friendlies with a South Korean University side, after which they will head to Europe to play Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium.