PERAK beat Johor 2-0 in Division One of the 48th Razak Cup and are now among the early contenders to play in the final, with Kuala Lumpur likely to be their main hurdle.
The Silver State, who had beaten Negri Sembilan 3-1 in their opening encounter on Thursday, had control of the match but muffed many chances which could have taken their tally higher.
In the end, penalty corner goals from Hairul Nizam (48th) and Sabri Mohamed (55th) gave them the full points.
“We had the match in control, but muffed many chances but still, I am happy with the three points which keeps us afloat in this tournament,” said Perak coach Manjit Singh.
Manjit felt that the next match on Saturday against Malac ca could decide if his men will go the distance.
“We have a day’s rest after which we will play Malacca who have assembled a good team this year.
“And if we play like the first two matches, I am confident we will be in the running to play in the final,” said Manjit Singh.
Negri Sembilan and Malacca, however, played to a goal- less draw yesterday, indicating that Perak have a good chance to achieving their dream against Malacca today.
RESULTS -- Division One: Johor 0 Perak 2, Malacca 0 Negri Sembilan 0, Kuala Lumpur 6 Penang 1.
Division Two: Singapore 4 Police 1, Kedah 1 Kelantan 3.
TODAY: Division Two: Selangor v Perlis (3pm), Sabah v Kelantan (5pm), Singapore v Kedah (7pm).
TOMORROW: Division One -- Kuala Lumpur v Johor (3pm), Armed Forces v Penang (5pm), Malacca v Perak (7pm).
Division Two: Terengganu v Pahang (3pm), Selangor v Brunei (5pm).
STANDINGS
DIVISION ONE
P W D L F A Pts
K LUMPUR 2 2 0 0 8 1 6
PERAK 2 2 0 0 5 1 6
JOHOR 2 1 0 1 3 4 3
N SEMBILAN 2 0 1 1 2 3 1
MALACCA 2 0 1 1 0 2 1
PENANG 1 0 0 1 1 6 0
FORCES 1 0 0 1 2 3 0
DIVISION TWO
GROUP A
P W D L F A Pts
SINGAPORE 1 1 0 0 4 1 3
KELANTAN 1 1 0 0 3 1 3
KEDAH 1 0 0 1 1 3 0
POLICE 1 0 0 1 1 4 0
SABAH 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
GROUP B
P W D L F A Pts
PAHANG 1 1 0 0 9 0 3
BRUNEI 1 0 0 1 0 9 0
SELANGOR 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
PERLIS 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
TERENGGANU 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Women have boys on their mind
THE Malaysian women’s hockey team returned from their seven-match Tour of New Zealand on a high, and now they are confident enough to challenge the boys in the Junior Hockey League (JHL).
The women are preparing for the World Cup Qualifier in Santiago, Chile where they will be up against the hosts, Australia, Ireland, Scotland and Ukraine for the single ticket to the World Cup in Rosario, Argentina on Aug 29-Sept 11.
The women just returned from New Zealand where they played four matches against the NZ national team and lost 2- 0, 2-1, 2-0 and 4-0.
And in the three matches against the NZ development team, the ladies won 3-0, 3-0 and 4-3.
“We received confirmation from the FIH (International Hockey Federation) that the tournament will be held in Chile, even though the country was recently hit by a massive earthquake,” Said MWHF secretary S. Shamala.
“And during the New Zealand Tour, which was the first time NZ agreed to host the Malaysian women, the girls learnt much from the team which had beaten Australia for direct entry into the World Cup.
“The matches were of high intensity with a lot of body contact and robust play which gave us the opportunity to evaluate our attacking and defending strategies.
“And among the lessons learnt from the Tour were on penalty corner set-pieces and circle penetrations, which improved vastly,” said Shamala.
And now, the ladies are ready to challenge the boys in the JHL.
“We are grateful to the MHF (Malaysian Hockey Fed eration), for allowing the women to compete in the JHL. We have forwarded our training program and the MHF will prepare a schedule to accommodate us.
“We are certain the experience and competitive envi ronment will be of great benefit to us,” said Shamala.
To date, 16 teams have conformed for the JHL which will start on April 9.
The women are preparing for the World Cup Qualifier in Santiago, Chile where they will be up against the hosts, Australia, Ireland, Scotland and Ukraine for the single ticket to the World Cup in Rosario, Argentina on Aug 29-Sept 11.
The women just returned from New Zealand where they played four matches against the NZ national team and lost 2- 0, 2-1, 2-0 and 4-0.
And in the three matches against the NZ development team, the ladies won 3-0, 3-0 and 4-3.
“We received confirmation from the FIH (International Hockey Federation) that the tournament will be held in Chile, even though the country was recently hit by a massive earthquake,” Said MWHF secretary S. Shamala.
“And during the New Zealand Tour, which was the first time NZ agreed to host the Malaysian women, the girls learnt much from the team which had beaten Australia for direct entry into the World Cup.
“The matches were of high intensity with a lot of body contact and robust play which gave us the opportunity to evaluate our attacking and defending strategies.
“And among the lessons learnt from the Tour were on penalty corner set-pieces and circle penetrations, which improved vastly,” said Shamala.
And now, the ladies are ready to challenge the boys in the JHL.
“We are grateful to the MHF (Malaysian Hockey Fed eration), for allowing the women to compete in the JHL. We have forwarded our training program and the MHF will prepare a schedule to accommodate us.
“We are certain the experience and competitive envi ronment will be of great benefit to us,” said Shamala.
To date, 16 teams have conformed for the JHL which will start on April 9.
KL start title hunt with confidence
Flying start: Kuala Lumpur’s Harvinder Singh (right) vies with Malacca’s Amirullah Zainul during their Razak Cup match in Kuantan yesterday. KL won 2-0.By AFTAR SINGH
KUANTAN: Kuala Lumpur got off to a good start in the Razak Cup hockey tournament when they defeated defending champions Malacca 2-0 in a Division One match at the Wisma Belia Hockey Stadium here yesterday.
KL, who are gunning to win the title for a record 19th time in the 48th edition of the tournament, went on the offensive from the start and took the lead in the 12th minute through national forward Nabil Fiqri Mohd Noor.
The team with six internationals in their ranks created many more chances to score in the first half but drew blanks.
The second goal for KL came off the penalty corner with national midfielder Mohd Shahrun Nabil scoring in the 40th minute.
Malacca, who had the services of former national forward Chua Boon Huat and current national forward B. Namasivayam, failed to impress and they were lucky to lose by a small margin.
KL coach Nor Saiful Zaini said that he was satisfied with his team’s performance even though they missed a number of sitters.
“We are playing in a round-robin format and we need to score as many goals as possible in every match to qualify for the final,” he said.
“I am also happy with the performance of three Under-21 players – Harvinder (Singh), Mohd Syamin (Mohd Yusuf) and Fahed (Saifullah). They played well. However, we need to tighten the defence. We allowed Malacca to create a few scoring chances.”
KL will be seeking to claim full points against Penang today.
“My players are highly motivated after the win over Malacca and we should get the better of Penang, who only have the services of one national player (M. Jivan),” said Nor Saiful.
Perak also got off to a winning start, beating Negri Sembilan 3-1 in another Division One match.
National forward Azlan Misron (10th), Mohd Noor Khairul Azrain (33rd) and Mohd Hafifihafiz Hanafi (64th) scored for Perak. Negri’s goal came from M. Ragesh Waran in the 61st minute.
Hosts Pahang started in Division Two with a thumping 9-0 win over Brunei in Group B.
Mohd Aminuddin Abu scored a hat-trick (2nd, 43rd and 64th) and the other goals came from Ahmad Kazamirul Nasruddin (14th, 52nd), Ismail Abu (47th, 66th), Mohd Hafiz Zainul (34th) and Mohd Al-Fadhir Kasim (45th).
KL, who are gunning to win the title for a record 19th time in the 48th edition of the tournament, went on the offensive from the start and took the lead in the 12th minute through national forward Nabil Fiqri Mohd Noor.
The team with six internationals in their ranks created many more chances to score in the first half but drew blanks.
The second goal for KL came off the penalty corner with national midfielder Mohd Shahrun Nabil scoring in the 40th minute.
Malacca, who had the services of former national forward Chua Boon Huat and current national forward B. Namasivayam, failed to impress and they were lucky to lose by a small margin.
KL coach Nor Saiful Zaini said that he was satisfied with his team’s performance even though they missed a number of sitters.
“We are playing in a round-robin format and we need to score as many goals as possible in every match to qualify for the final,” he said.
“I am also happy with the performance of three Under-21 players – Harvinder (Singh), Mohd Syamin (Mohd Yusuf) and Fahed (Saifullah). They played well. However, we need to tighten the defence. We allowed Malacca to create a few scoring chances.”
KL will be seeking to claim full points against Penang today.
“My players are highly motivated after the win over Malacca and we should get the better of Penang, who only have the services of one national player (M. Jivan),” said Nor Saiful.
Perak also got off to a winning start, beating Negri Sembilan 3-1 in another Division One match.
National forward Azlan Misron (10th), Mohd Noor Khairul Azrain (33rd) and Mohd Hafifihafiz Hanafi (64th) scored for Perak. Negri’s goal came from M. Ragesh Waran in the 61st minute.
Hosts Pahang started in Division Two with a thumping 9-0 win over Brunei in Group B.
Mohd Aminuddin Abu scored a hat-trick (2nd, 43rd and 64th) and the other goals came from Ahmad Kazamirul Nasruddin (14th, 52nd), Ismail Abu (47th, 66th), Mohd Hafiz Zainul (34th) and Mohd Al-Fadhir Kasim (45th).
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