Monday, June 24, 2013

Haze starts to clear up in Johor Baru..

THE Hockey World League Semi-finals looks set to stay in  Johor Baru, as the haze conditions have shown tremendous  improvements with rain around the Taman Daya Stadium  bringing some relief yesterday.
     The Malaysian juniors, South Korea and Argentina trained  at the tournament venue yesterday, and according to juniors  coach K. Dharmaraj, conditions at present are playable.
    “While travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Johor Baru con ditions along the highway were bad a few days back, but  when we reached Taman Daya, there was hardly any haze  and we got a chance to play a friendly against the Argentina  side (on Sunday),” said Dharmaraj who is preparing his team  for the Junior World Cup in India in December.
    The Malaysian juniors got a chance of their life-time, as  many teams will be using them to spar in the run-up to the  World League.
    “Even though we lost 3-1 to Argentina, the Argies did not  look too impressive but maybe it is because of jet-lag and  acclimatisation. We will be playing a friendly against South  Korea next and then Japan which is a fantastic opportunity  for my charges to toughen themselves ahead of New Delhi,”  said Dharmaraj.
    Organising secretary Manjit Majid Abdullah said there was  heavy rain in Pasir Gudang, and a drizzle in Taman Daya and  the forecast for the next few days looks good.
    “I spoke to the tournament director (Bjorn Isberg of  Sweden) and we have a contingency plan in place. If the haze  disrupt any match, we have three rest days and can utilise  them.
    “Also, the conditions around Kuala Lumpur and Kuantan  are worse off than Johor Baru, and moving the tournament is  not feasible at the moment,” said Manjit.
    Yesterday, a total of RM640,000 was handed over by  sponsors to the Johor Hockey Association in a simple cer emony that marks the countdown of an event where three  more teams will qualify for the 2014 World Cup in Holland.
     Present to receive the sponsorship was Johor State Ex ecutive Councillar for Youth and Sports Datuk Zulkarnain  Kamisan. Also present was JHA President Jais Sardy and  Malaysian Hockey Confederation vice president M. Gob inathan.
    Eight teams will compete in Johor Baru on June 29-July 7.  Group A comprises of Germany, South Korea, Argentina and  Japan while Group B has England, Pakistan, South Africa and  Malaysia.
     A total of 12 teams will play in the 2014 World Cup where  hosts Netherlands are automatic qualifiers while Belgium  and Australia qualified after finishing one-two respectively in  another World League Semi-finals which ended at the The  Hague on Sunday.