Challenge for Tengku Abdullah

By Ajitpal Singh

MALAYSIAN Hockey Federation (MHF) president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad
Shah will have his hands full when he chairs the council meeting on
Saturday, with the national team's Champions Challenge II debacle likely
to be the main item on the agenda.
Tengku Abdullah, however, must first address the issue of the MHF's
almost non-functioning committees, which have been sleeping on their
respective jobs over the past months.
According to the MHF constitution, the respective committees are
supposed to meet once every three months but some have not been doing so.
Instead, these committees are only meeting now, just days before having
to present their reports to the council.
A recent coaching committee meeting made headlines after its chairman
Dr Balbir Singh was alleged to have made appointments before seeking the
approval of its members.
These appointees were removed immediately from the committee in the
recent meeting.
Another issue that the members were unhappy about was the appointment
of coaches for various age-groups and national teams.
The members claimed they were not consulted before Balbir appointed
these coaches.
These issues were brought up in the first coaching committee meeting on
Jan 10, which they allege Balbir failed to address immediately
It is learnt that Balbir had wanted to resign but has yet to do so.
MHF secretary Hashim Mohd Yusoff confirmed that Balbir is not resigning
from his post.
"We have not received anything official or unofficial, from him
(Balbir). As far as the federation is concerned, Balbir is still the
chairman," said Hashim yesterday.
"All concerned committees will also present their respective minutes of
meetings to the council on Saturday."
On the below-par performance performance in the recent Champions
Challenge II, Hashim said the matter will be discussed extensively in the
meeting.
"I can't say much over the possible outcome but the subject will be
addressed with great concern," said Hashim.
The national team, who were given the target of winning the Champions
Challenge II, instead finished fourth, despite being the second highest
ranked team in the tournament.