THE Malaysia Hockey League )MHL) Premier Division closing date for registration of players was extended to next Friday, as teams are still scrambling to secure top-flight players.Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club have Sohail Abbas from Pakistan on their mind, but he is only expected to confirm or decline on Monday.
Sohail scored the first goal to dent Malaysia’s hopes in the Asian Games, where we lost 2-0 to Pakistan in the final.
Yesterday, Sapura, UniKL, KL Hockey Club and Nur Insafi confirmed their foreign players, while Yayasan Negri Sem bilan are still in talks with India players as well as their coach Harendra Singh.
Harendra quit the India national team after they could only win bronze in the Asian Games.
YNS are looking to field Deepak Thakur and Prabjhot Singh of India and Shakeel Abbasi from Pakistan.
Sapura have secured Rehan Butt of Pakistan, South Ko rea's Lim Woo Guen and Welsh second choice keeper David James Kettle.
Nur Insafi will again have a battery of foreign players as they have named India and Pakistan players Ramesh Kumar, Abdul Asim Khan, Imran Khan Yusouf Zai, Prem Kumar, Bikash Toppo, Shahbir Ahmad Khan, Khasif Ali, Vivek, Veerachamy Raja and Jitendra Saroha.
The Premier Division starts on Dec 17 and Tenaga Na sional, Maybank, Armed Forces and UiTM will rely solely on local talent.
Meanwhile, Bukit Jalil Sports School will be out to make amends for their 2-0 defeat to Armed Forces Juniors in Division One of the MHL when they play Universiti Sains Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur today.
DIVISION ONE -- Today: Ipoh City Council v Malacca City Council (Azlan Shah Stadium, 5pm), Bukit Jalil SS v Universiti Sains Malaysia (Pantai Stadium, 5pm), Bandar Penawar SS v UniTen (BPSS pitch, 5pm).
