ISMAIL Abu being chased by Bangladesh players in the Asia Cup in Kuantan. He will turn out for KL Hockey Club in the MHL Premier Division.THE Malaysian Hockey League (MHL) Premier Division starts on Dec 4, but until yesterday, three teams have yet to submit the name of their coaches.
Debutants KL Hockey Club, Maybank and Tenaga Nasional submitted their team lists to the Malaysian Hockey Fed eration (MHF) minus the coaches names.
The Premier League will start with a Charity Shield between Sapura and Tenaga Nasional at the Tun Razak Stadium which will be telecast live.
Double champions Ernst and Young withdrew this season, but it looks like a re-branding exercise as all their players are now with the KL Hockey Club outfit.
Even Ismail Abu, who was dropped from the World Cup Qualifier for playing truant, is listed with KLHC.
The some of the former and national players with KLHC are S. Baljit Singh, Chua Boon Huat, Shahrun Nabil, Harvinder singh, Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin, Azlan Misron, Kelvinder Singh and Megat Azrafiq.
Nur Insafi of Penang have roped in 16 foreign players and eight locals to strengthen their challenge.
Twelve are from India, five from Pakistan and one from Egypt.
Imran Warsi, a former Pakistan junior international and budding penalty corner flicker is also with Nur Insafi. The Egyptian, a first in the MHL, is Karim Sherif.
Brothers Jiva and Jiwan Mohan are listed with Sapura, as well as former skipper S. Kuhan. However, Sapura will still be relying on former internationals, and it will be interesting to see how they stack up against KLHC and Nur Insafi.
Tenaga Nasional also have a healthy dose of national players with S. Kumar, seven-time voted best goalkeeper in international tournaments, between the posts.
Madzli Ikmar, C. Baljit Singh, Sallehin Ghani, S. Selvaraju and Amin Rahim will be the pillars in Tenaga Nasional.
And interestingly, budding striker Fazial Shaari, 18, will be making his debut with Tenaga Nasional after a good show in the Junior World Cup as well as the New Zealand World Cup Qualifier.
The cast is ready, and await the naming of the three coaches before the show gets on its way.
