SSTMI confident of third Milo Cup..

TENGKU Mahkota Ismail Sports School (SSTMI) are confident, while UniKL Young Guns are happy to play the  underdogs in the Junior Hockey League Milo Cup final at the  National Stadium in Bukit Jalil today.
    Both the teams, and their coaches, are no strangers as they  will be meeting in each other in the fourth consecutive Milo  Cup final since 2010.
    UniKL won the first encounter, but SSTMI (then known as  Bandar Penawar Sports School) came back strongly in the  last two finals and are the favourites for a hat-trick of  titles.
   “We beat them in the League (3-2) even though we did not  have our best who were recovering from injuries. For the  final, we have the full squad, and that is why I am confident  that my players are ready to lift their third Milo Cup title,”  said SSTMI coach Wan Roslan Wan Rahman.
    STMI were hit badly when four of their players were  involved with motorbike accidents in the middle of the  league.
    Amirul Aideed and Azwar Rahman were the worse hit and  were out for action for two weeks, while Firdaus Omar and  Ridzwan Azmi continued playing with some barely healed  scars.
    “That is when we lost to Anderson (3-2) and also struggled  to beat UniKL in our last league match to seal the League  title,” said Wan Rahman.
    It was a seven-goal thriller when the two met, and today is  expected to be no different as free-hockey will be played.
    “We will be going in as the underdogs as we not only lost to  SSTMI in the last two finals, but also in the League this  season,” said UniKL coach Faiz Isa.
   “It was very difficult to swallow our first Milo Cup defeat to  SSTMI in 2011, and the next year we fell again and the feeling  was really bad.
    “I have motivated my players and hopefully, we will be  celebrating after the 70 minutes are over this season,” said  Faiz.
    TODAY: Final -- Tengku Mahkota Ismail SS UniKL Young  Guns (8pm); Third-Fourth: SSTMI Juniors v Andersons  (6pm).
   Both matches at the National Hockey Stadium, Pitch II, in  Bukit Jalil.

Sardar Singh the best Asian...

THE Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) held its mid term Congress in Kuala Lumpur yesterday and presented the AHF Player’s Awards to the 2011 season winners.
    Sardar Singh (pic) of India was picked as the Best Player for 2011. He was also named the player of the tournament for the 2010 and 2012 Azlan Shah Cup.
     Rika Komazawa of Japan was named as the Women Player of the Year.
     As for the AHF Youth Player of the year, it went to Muhamad Rizwan of Pakistan while the women youth player award went to Ritu Rani of India.
   However none of the recipients attended the function and were represented by their respective officials.
    AFH secretary general Tan Sri P. Alagendra said: “Asian hockey is on the rise and we have players to match the best in the world.
    “However, we still need to do more in Asia and reviving club tournaments is a vital aspect towards the development of the sport in Asia.
   “We also have to pay more emphasis on Indoor hockey and AHF looks towards ways and means to get more teams to play in this tournaments,” said Alagendra.
    On the AHF-MHC Raja Ashman Academy, Alagendra said: “It has progressed well and we have two courses lined up during the Azlan Shah Cup next week.
    “Umpires and coaches will undergo training to equip them better in carrying out their tasks. We also welcome teams to use the academy for purpose of preparing teams for regional competitions.”

No confidence shocker for Muthukumar...

MHC UMPIRES COMMITTEE: 12 state chairmen want Muthukumar (pic left) removed

TWELVE out of 16 State umpires' chairmen have signed a  motion of no confidence against Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) Umpires Committee chairman Lt Colonel B. Muthukumar.
It was presented and read out during the MHC management meeting last Saturday, but president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah said he needed more time to study it before making a stand.
"The motion of no confidence tabled at the management meeting (against Muthukumar) came as a shock to me as I was not made aware of it beforehand.
"However, I am looking into it as I want to find out what the problems are before making a stand," said Tengku Abdullah in a text reply.
The four state chairmen who did not sign the motion were from Armed Forces, Selangor, Malacca and Negri Sembilan.
Among the 12 state HA umpires chairmen who signed were Dr Mohamad Faithal Hassan (KLHA), K. Krishnan (Kedah), N. Nallasamy (Police), Shurizan Mansor (Perlis) and Aftar Singh (Sabah).
Muthukumar was alleged to, among others, have made several important decisions on his own without consulting the committee, and not abiding by some of the decisions taken by the committee.
Other allegations were:
   1. Failing to implement the MHC Umpires Committee blueprint on the objectives, vision and mission.
   2. Failing to plan and organise umpires seminars, workshops, dialogues.
  3. Failing to help develop young umpires or enhance the present batch's performance in any area.
   4. Failing to nominate names of those who have retired from active umpiring as umpires' managers to the Asian Hockey Federation.
   5. Biased to several umpires who keep failing the beep test.
The motion ended by requesting for swift action, as the signatories claimed the umpiring standard in Malaysia is at its worst in recent years due to the problems plaguing the MHC umpires committee.
   Muthukumar, when contacted, would not make any statement other than saying that he left the matter to Tengku Abdullah to settle.