28 officials to accompany team, total 54

TWENTY-EIGHT Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) and State HA officials will head for Dublin on March 14 to cheer on the Malaysian hockey team in the Olympic Qualifiers from March 10-18 in Ireland. The 18 players, plus another eight working officials, and the 28 MHC statewide officials will bring the total Malaysians in Dublin hoping for the team to win gold to 54. "Yes, 28 officials from the MHC and also State HA officials will be in Dublin to cheer the national players as agreed in an earlier meeting," said MHC president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah after the first MHC meeting in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. And his reasoning was: "We hope to qualify for the Olympics, and if that happens, it would be too expensice to take MHC officials to London for the Olympics and that's why a decision was taken to travel to Dublin and watch the players instead," said Tengku Abdullah. The 28 will be from 16 state affiliates, six MHC vice-presidents, the MHC deputy president and three independant members, secretary and treasurer. The Malaysian team are down to play against South Korea, Ireland, Chile, Russia and Ukraine for the single ticket to the Olympics. Tengku Abdullah also said the officials trip will be sponsores: "But we are still looking for the sponsors and I assure all that there is no hidden agenda." Meanwhile, Tengku Abdullah said he is happy with the report from the senior team on their Road to London progress. "The coach (Tai Beng Hai) reported to the MHC today (yesterday) and we are happy with their progress. Only that two players are nursing injuries but thae are nothing serious and the target is to give their best and win the gold medal."

Thunderbolts retake lead

AS expected, the race for the Division One title for the MILO-Junior League will go down to the wire after SSTMI-Thunderbolt hammered MBI-Anderson 6-0 at the Sultan Azlan Shah Stadium in Ipoh yesterday.
The win gave moved Thunderbolts back to the top on a one goal advantage over UniKL Young Guns as both teams are tied on 18 points after registering six wins.
Both the teams will square off on Feb 19 in Johor and prior to that Thunderbolt will play Tunku Besar Secondary School while UniKL will meet on USM-MSSSPP.
Thunderbolt opened scoring in the eitgth minute off Afzanizam Zakaria before skipper Shazril Irwan Nazli doubled the advantage in the 13th minute.
Sufi Ismat Rohulamin then scored four goals in the 26th, 30th, 63rd and 67th minutes to hand the Overall champions a comprehensive win.
In Kuantan Malacca High School assured themselves of a top spot finish in Group B of Division Two as they edged MSP-Yayasan Pahang 1-0.
The second spot in the group will be determined in the last match between Datuk Taha and Batu Pahat who meet on Tuesday. In another Group B match, KL Sports School edged SMK Padang Midin 3-3.
RESULTS -- USM Juniors 2 MBPJ 1, MBI-Anderson 0 SSTMI Thunderbolts 6,BJSS 8 SSTMI 0.
DIVISION TWO, Group A: Kelantan 1 Kedah HA MSNK 1, Kedah HA Juniors 1 Anderson Juniors 2, Negri HA 0 Nur Insafi 2.
DIVISION TWO, Group B: Yayasan Pahang 0 Malacca HS 1, Batu Pahat 1 Datuk Taha 1, Padang Midin 2 KL Sports School 3.

TODAY: Division One -- TBSS v SSTMI Thunderbolts (Seremban II, 4pm).
DIVISION TWO, Group A: Kedah HA MSNK v Sapura (Alor Star, 4pm),
DIVISION TWO, Group B: Batu Pahat v Tunas Pahang (Malacca, 4pm), Olak PKT v Padang Midin (Bukit Jalil, 5pm).