Vaisaki tournament back in Kenya

www.fihockey.org

The Vaisakhi International Hockey tournament returned on the Kenya Hockey Union calendar of events in 2010 after a five year break with two foreign teams from Pakistan and Ghana participating.
The tournament which is sponsored by the Sikh Community of Kenya has attracted a total of nine men and four women clubs. The tournament runs from 17-25 of April 2010. The men's teams are grouped in two pools. Pool A comprises Kenya's premier league champions Strathmore University, Green Sharks, Karate Axiom and visitors Ghana Customs. Pool B has visiting club Pakistan Customs, Wazalendo, Parklands, Kenya Police and Simba Nairobi.
The women teams include National champions Telkom, Strathmore, Vikings and Sliders. The women will play a round-robin format.

Results:
Saturday 17 April 2010
Telkom 4 Strathmore 1
Sliders 2 Vikings 1
Parklands 1 Wazalendo 1
Green Sharks 6 Karate Axiom 1
Ghana Customs 2 Strathmore 2

Sunday 18 April 2010
Telkom 4 Vikings 0
Simba Nairobi 4 Wazalendo 0
Kenya Police 4 Parklands 0
Ghana Customs 2 Strathmore 1

Monday 19 April 2010
Karate Axiom 1 Strathmore 5
Kenya Police 3 Wazalendo 0

Tuesday 20 April 2010
Pakistan Customs 2 Kenya Police 3
Karate Axiom 1 Ghana Customs 10

UniKL start their Sports School battles

Pic: UniKL v Anderson, a top-net attempt goes bouncing in..

EARLY leaders UniKL will start their battle against four sports schools in Division One of the MHF-Milo-NSC Junior Hockey League from today.
The newcomers, who have played four matches and collected a maximum of 12 points, will start with Bukit Jalil Sports School Juniors this weekend, and then Bukit Jalil Sports School next weekend, Bandar Penawar Sports School- Thunderbolt after that and end their schools battle against Bandar Penawar Sports School Juniors.
However, the standings are not expected to change after this weekend, as the three early contenders have relatively easy matches.
UniKL should have an easy time against BJSS Juniors, while joint-second Thunderbolt and BJSS also have easy matches against Anderson and Petaling Jaya City Council respectively.
BPSS-Thunderbolt coach wan Roslan Wan Rahman said yesterday that even though Anderson lost their last two matches, they will not be easy.
“Anderson are still a dangerous team and we will not take any chances against them. For us the three points are very important to stay in the title race.
“So we will have to play hard and ensure we convert the chances that come our way,” he said.
The Bandar Penawar team has an impressive scoring rate with 17 goals in three matches. They are second only to UniKL who have scored 22 goals in four matches.
BJSS coach S. Prakash lamented on his team’s poor scoring rate: “We are missing too many chances and our play has not been that good either. Against Anderson we made it difficult for ourselves.
:We need to improve fast and score more goals against weaker opponents, as we have only scored seven so far,” he said.
Anderson faces another tough weekend as they chase to remain in the top five in the standings.
Besides the BPSS-Thunderbolt team they will also travel to Kuala Terengganu to play against Kelantan.
The top five teams from Division One and top three from Division Two qualify for the knockout stage.
FRIDAY: Division One -- Bukit Jalil Sports School v Petaling Jaya City Council (Tun Razak, 7pm), BPSS-Thunderbolt v Anderson (Bandar Penawar, 5pm), Kelantan v Bukit Jalil Sports School (Terengganu, 5pm).
Division Two: Tunku Besar Secondary School v Pahang (Tampin, 5pm), Kuala Selangor v Johor (Pandamaran, 5pm), Matri v Datuk Taha (Alor Star, 5pm).
SUNDAY: Division One -- Petaling Jaya City Council v Bandar Penawar Juniors (Tun Razak, 8pm), Kelantan v Anderson (Terengganu, 5pm), UniKL v Bukit Jalil Sports School Juniors (KLHA Stadium, 5pm).
Division Two: Matri v Sabah (Alor Star, 5pm), Kuala Selangor v Ipoh City Council (Pandamaran, 5pm), Johor v Pahang (Johor Baru, 5pm).

DIVISION ONE

P W D L F A Pt
UNIKL 4 4 0 0 22 5 12
BP T’BOLT 3 3 0 0 17 3 9
BJSS 3 3 0 0 7 1 9
ANDERSON 5 3 0 2 11 12 9
BPSS JUNIORS 3 1 0 2 4 8 3
BJSS JUNIORS 3 0 1 2 2 7 1
KELANTAN 3 0 1 2 3 16 1
MWHA 3 0 0 3 4 9 0
PJCC 3 0 0 3 3 12 0


DIVISION TWO

P W D L F A Pt
TBSS 3 2 1 0 12 3 7
IPOH CC 3 2 1 0 7 2 7
SABAH 2 2 0 0 16 0 6
PAHANG 1 1 0 0 2 1 3
PG FREES 2 0 2 0 4 4 2
JOHOR 2 0 1 1 3 6 1
DATUK TAHA 3 0 1 2 2 11 1
MATRI 2 0 0 2 1 4 0
K. SELANGOR 2 0 0 2 0 16 0

MWHA: Selfish Australia

By Ajitpal Singh

THE Malaysian Women’s Hockey Association (MWHA) is unhappy with Australian for their unwillingness in agreeing to the rescheduling of the Women’s World Cup Qualifiers in Santiago, Chile.
The International Hockey Federation (FIH) had wanted to reschedule the qualifiers from April 24-May 2 to another date as some participating teams, who are arriving late, re quested for it.
This is because flights in Europe were grounded until Tuesday by the volcanic ash from Iceland.
However, the Australian team, who arrived in Santiago last weekend, are unwilling to compromise.
According to Australia, their players will not be insured if FIH decides on rescheduling the qualifiers.
Ireland will arrive on April 27 while Scotland have yet to confirm their flight.
MWHA secretary S.Shamala said Australia’s claim about not being covered by insurance is illogical.
“It is an unacceptable reason by Australia. However, FIH has now agreed not to reschedule the tournament. The fixtures will now be tight as the three rest days, in the initial schedule, will be taken up for matches,” said Shamala.
“FIH, in a statement, stated that the fixtures will be changed in accordance to the arrival of teams. It has never happened before in the history of hockey. This all because of one team (Australia).
The Malaysian team, coached by Yahya Atan, were sup posed to leave last weekend using transit flight via Frankfurt to Chile but flights in Europe were grounded by the volcanic ash.
The team will now transit through Auckland to Chile on Saturday.
“We will arrive in Santiago on Sunday and we have requested to FIH for two days of rest before we start our campaign.
“If it is approved, we will likely face either the hosts or Australia on Tuesday. FIH has confirmed that Australia will face Chile in their opening match on Saturday,” she added.
Malaysia were supposed to face Chile on the tournament’s opening day.
Shamala added the qualifiers could be a four team affair if Scotland decides to withdraw.