Sunday, February 3, 2013

Title can go three ways...

TENGKU Mahkota Ismail Sports School (SSTMI) kept their hopes of defending the Division One League title alive when they beat Petaling Jaya City Council (PJCC) 4-0 in the NSC-Milo-MHC Junior Hockey League yesterday.
  The league title will now be decided on Thursday, when SSTMI play UniKL Young Guns in a winner-takes-all high stakes match as both teams are tied on 15 points.
  PJCC ended their league on 18 points, but their goals-scored count is too low to challenge for the title, unless the SSTMI-UniKL match ends in a draw, and they will be crowned without breaking sweat while watching from the stands.
  Playing at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil, PJCC only needed a draw to lift the League title, but SSTMI's Shahril Saabah dented their hopes early with a fourth minute penalty corner goal.
  After that SSTMI took control of the match and won four more penalty corners, and scored their second in the 30th minute off a Mohamed Zulhamizan field goal to enter the dressing room with the title in sight.
  Huzairy Zin then made it 3-0 in the 43rd minute, while Azwar Rahman helped himself to another in the 53rd minute.
  SSTMI coach Wan Roslan Wan Rahman knows the score on Thursday: "The defeat to Anderson (2-1) on Friday turned out to be a blessing as it was a wake-up call for my players to play better against PJCC. Now, we can't afford to make too many mistakes in the match against UniKL as its a winner-take-all."
  PJCC team manager Zanal Abidin was disappointed with the defeat, but is keeping is fingers crossed for UniKL and SSTMI to end with a draw.
  "We will be at the stands on Thursday when UniKL and SSTMI play, and hopefully its a draw so we can celebrate our maiden JHL League title," said Zanal.
   Two red cards were yesterday flashed to PJCC player Khairol Shafik and Politeknik player Mohamed Kamarul.

     RESULTS: Division One: Tengku Mahkota SS 4 Petaling Jaya CC 0.
  Division Two: Group A -- Nur Insafi 1 Kelantan HA 7, Perlis 1 1Mas Penang 0, Anderson Jnrs 3 SERATAS 0.
   Group B: Tunas Muda Pahang 2 Bukit Jalil SS Juniors 3, Padang Midin 2 Johor HA 5, Olak PKT 1 Politeknik KPT 2.
   
DIVISION ONE

             P  W  D  L  F    A  Pts
PJCC         7  6  0  1  11   9   18
SSTMI        6  5  0  1  29   3   15
UniKL        6  5  0  1  28   6   15
Anderson     6  2  2  2  10   16  8
Malacca HS   6  1  2  3  9    21  5
BJSS         7  1  1  5  9    17  4
SSTMI Jnrs   5  1  1  3  6    16  4
USM-MSSSPP   5  0  0  5  6    20  0

GROUP A

               P  W  D  L  F  A  Pts
Kelantan       8  8  0  0  38  10 24
Kedah HA Jnrs  8  4  3  1  17  6  15
Perlis         7  4  2  1  23  12 14
Anderson Jnrs  7  4  2  1  18   9 14
STAR Ipoh      7  3  1  3  6   14  10
1Mas Penang    8  3  0  5  16  15  9
Matri          6  1  1  4  5   20  4
SERATAS        6  0  1  5  1  13   1
Nur Insafi     7  0  0  7  2  27   0


GROUP B   

              P  W  D  L  F  A  Pts
KLSS          7  7  0  0  28  8  21
Poli KPT      7  6  0  1  24  6  18
OLAK          8  5  0  3  21  9  15
K Langat      7  4  0  3  10  28 12
Datuk Taha    8  3  2  3  22  12 11
TM Pahang     8  3  1  4  19  18 10
TBSS          8  3  0  5  16  20  9
Johor HA      8  2  2  4  17  23  8
BJSS Jnrs     8  2  1  5  11  28  7
SMKPM         7  0  0  7  11  27  0 

Hero’s welcome for Negre...


FIH president Leandro Negre received a hero’s welcome on his visit to Bangladesh this week. Negre’s arrival inducted a new edition in the history of Bangladesh sports as it was the first arrival of any FIH president in the country.
Negre spent a busy day at Dhaka after his arrival as he met the state minister for youth and sports Ahad Ali Sarker and the president of Bangladesh Olympic Association and also attended a dinner arranged in honour of the FIH president.