SAPURA became the first team to qualify for the semi-finals of Division Two, when they outclassed Politeknik PKT 4-0 in Group A of the Milo-Junior Hockey League at the Kuala Lumpur HA Stadium yesterday.
The finalists from Division Two will play in the quarter-finals of the Overall title, and the early indications are that Sapura will also qualify for a shot at the Overall title.
Yesterday, Sapura took and early lead when Soffian Kamaruddin scored in the fifth minute, while Ahmaed Iqwan Shah increased the lead in the 26th minute, before Soffian scored theit third in the 28th minute.
After the breather, P. Ahrujunan scored a penalty corner goal in the 59th minute for a 4-0 win.
"The early goals gave us a good boost to control the match against the second placed team in our group. And now we are looking forward to play in the semi-finals of Division Two.
"In the remaining matches, I will plan to keep the winning momentum and also prepare for the knock-out stage so that we can also play in the quarter-finals of the Overall title," said Sapura coach I. Vickneswaran.
In Division One, Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS) scraped past USM-MSSP 4-3 while MBI Anderson beat Petaling Jaya Municipal Council (MBPJ) 5-2 to move up from third to second on the standings.
MBI-Anderson took the lead in the third minute through Haneffi Razali and they were 2-0 up in the 21st minute when Amirul Iman Razali scored.
But MBPJ reduced the deficit on the stroke of halftime when T. Ganeisha converted a penalty corner.
It turned out to be a minor setback for the Ipoh side as they went on to score three more goals off Najib Abu Hassan (40th, 52nd) and Azril Misron (49th) for a 5-1 lead before MBPJ got their consolation off Faiz Haiqal two minutes from time.
DIVISION ONE
P W D L F A Pts
THUNDERBOLTS 4 4 0 0 27 3 12
Anderson 4 3 1 0 20 9 10
UNIKL 3 3 0 0 14 1 9
BJSS 4 3 0 1 15 11 9
USM Jnrs 3 1 1 1 10 10 4
MBPJ 5 1 0 4 14 17 3
SSTMI 3 1 0 2 6 16 3
TBSS 5 1 0 4 10 23 3
BJSS Jnrs 5 0 0 5 3 29 0
DIVISION TWO
GROUP A
P W D L F A Pts
SAPURA 5 5 0 0 32 1 15
Poli KPT 6 4 0 2 16 8 12
NUR INSAFI 4 2 1 1 7 5 7
KHA Jnrs 3 1 2 0 3 2 5
KHA-MSNK 4 1 1 2 7 6 4
ANDSON Jnrs 4 1 0 3 8 10 3
MSS Kel 2 1 0 1 3 8 3
MSSPP Jnrs 5 1 0 4 6 21 3
PHNS 3 0 0 3 0 21 0
GROUP B
P W D L F A Pts
OLAK 4 3 0 1 8 5 9
PAHANG 5 3 0 2 9 10 9
KLSS 4 2 0 2 11 6 6
MHS 3 2 0 1 4 4 6
MPBP 4 2 0 2 5 5 6
SMKPM 4 1 0 3 8 9 3
DATUK TAHA 3 2 0 1 4 4 6
TUNAS PAHANG 3 0 0 3 3 9 0
RESULTS -- DIVISION ONE: BJSS 4 USM-MSSP 3, TBSS 5 BJSS Juniors 0, MBPJ 2 MBI Anderson 5.
Division Two, Group A: Nur Insafi 3 MSSPP-USM Juniors 1, Kedah HA 4 Negri HA 0, Politeknik PKT 0 Sapura 4,
Division Two, Group B: Padang Midin 2 Yayasan Pahang 3, Tunas Pahang 1 Olak-PKT 2.
TODAY
DIVISION ONE: BJSS Juniors v USM-MSSPP (Ministry of Education, 6pm), MBPJ v SSTMI Juniors (Bukit Jalil, 7pm), BJSS v UniKL (Ministry of Education, 8pm).
Division Two, Group A: Negri HA v Anderson Juniors (Azlan Shah, 4pm), Sapura v Kelantan HA Juniors (KLHA, 6pm), KHA-MSNK MSSPP-USM Juniors (Alor Star, 4pm).
Division Two, Group B: Yayasan Pahang v Olak-PKT (Kuantan, 4pm), Malacca High School v KL Sports School (Malacca, 4pm), Datuk Taha v Tunas Pahang (Seremban II, 4pm).