Sweet 16 for Razak Cup

A RECORD 16 teams will compete in the Razak Cup which will be held at two venues in Kuala Lumpur from Aug 13- 20.
Seven teams will be in Division One, while nine teams in two groups in Division Two. The tournament will be held at the Kuala Lumpur HA Stadium, as well as the Tun Razak Stadium.
The foreign teams Singapore and Brunei will play in Division Two, while Project 2013 will compete with the big boys in Division One.
“This is the largest number of teams to have registered for the Razak Cup in recent times, and we had to break Division Two into two groups to accommodate the fixtures,” said Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) secretary Hashim Yu soff.
The tournament, especially Division One, is expected to be competitive, because the national players are on a Tour of Australia and then New Zealand and will only return after the Razak Cup ends.
Negri Sembilan, the runners-up last year, will hold trials to select their players on Sunday at 6.30pm at the Seremban II Stadium. For details, call S. Chandran at 016-3157113 or NSHA secretary Tamil Selvam at 019-3650303.
For the record, Kuala Lumpur won their 17th Razak Cup title with a convincing 5-0 thumping of Negri Sembilan last year, while in Division Two, Penang upset Selangor 3-2 for the title.
DIVISION ONE: Kuala Lumpur, Negri Sembilan, Perak, Malacca, Johor, Penang, Project 2013.
DIVISION TWO: Selangor, Perlis, Singapore, Police, Ke lantan, Kedah, Pahang, Sabah, Brunei.

Malacca KOed by H1N1

MALACCA High School withdrew from the Champion Schools hockey tournament yesterday, after their school was shut for one week because of the H1N1 fever.
The Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) redrew the fix tures, and now 10 teams will play in two groups from today at the Kuala Lumpur HA Stadium..
“We received the news today (yesterday) that the school has been ordered to close for one week because some students were found to have symptoms of the H1N1 influenza.
“It is unfortunate, but it is better the hockey players also remain in quarantine at home in Malacca,” said MHF secretary Hashim Yusoff.
Hamzah Machang of Kelantan, the defending champions,
will open accounts against Mutiara Impian of Penang today.
GROUP A: SMK Hamzah Machang (Kel), SMK Mutiara Inpian (Penang), SMK Pertukangan Perantis (Armed Forces), Tunku Besar Secondary School (Negri), Seberang Temerloh (Pah).
GROUP B: Sultan Abu Bakar College (Johor), Khir Johari (Kedah), Anderson (Perak), St John (KL), Seksyen II, Shah Alam (Sel).
TODAY: Hamzah Machang (Kel) v Mutiara Impian (Pg) 7.30am, Tunku Besar Tampin (NS) v Pertukangan Perantis (Forces) 9.30am, Sultan Abu Bakar (Joh) v Anderson (Pk) 3.30pm, St John (KL) v Khir Johari (Ked) 5.30pm.
TOMORROW: Seksyen II, Shah Alam (Sel) v Sultan Abu Bakar (Joh) 7.30am, Khir Johari (Ked) v Anderson (Pk) 9.30am, Seberang Temerloh (Pah) v Hamzah Machang (Kel) 3.30pm, Mutiara Impian (Pg) v Pertukangan Perantis (Forces) 5.30pm.

SMK Hamzah attempt for hat-trick

SMK Hamzah Machang, Kelantan, will be out for their third Champion Schools title when the tournament starts at the Kuala Lumpur HA Stadium tomorrow.
Kelantan first won the coveted schools crown in 1999, and then after an eight-year wait, in 2007, when they beat Johor's Sultan Abu Bakar College 5-3.
And Anderson of Ipoh are the bronze medallists, after they beat Penang Free School 3-2.
Eleven schools, including Armed Forces apprentice school, have confirmed for the tournament, which will pit state champions to decide which state has the best schools de velopment programme.
“Perlis, Terengganu, Sabah and Sarawak are the ab sentees, with logistics their main problem,” said Malaysian Hockey Federation secretary Hashim Yusoff.
GROUP A: SMK Hamzah Machang (Kel), SMK Mutiara Inpian (Penang), SMK Pertukangan Perantis (Armed Forces), Malacca High School (Malacca), Tunku Besar Secondary School (Negri).
GROUP B: Sultan Abu Bakar College (Johor), Khir Johari (Kedah), Anderson (Perak), St John (KL), Seberang Temerloh (Pah), Seksyen II, Shah Alam (Sel).
TOMORROW: Sultan Abu Bakar (Joh) v Seksyen II, Shah Alam (Sel) 7.30am, Anderson (Pk), v Seberang Temerloh (Pah) 9am, Pertukangan Perantis (Forces) v Tunku Besar Tampin (Negri) 3pm, Mutiara Impian (Pg) v Malacca High School (Mal) 5pm, Khir Johari (Ked) v St John (KL) 7pm.
SUNDAY: Mutiara Impian (Pg) v Tunku Besar Tampin (Negri) 7.30am, Hamzah Machang (Kel) v Malacca High School (Mal) 9am, Seksyen II, Shah Alam (Sel) v Khir Johari (Ked) 3pm, Anderson (Pk) v St John (KL) 5pm, Sultan Abu Bakar (Joh) v SMK Seberang Temerloh (Pah) 7pm.