Tengku Abdullah eyes AHF top post..

THE Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) nominations close on Aug 20, but there will be five Malaysian’s battling for positions in the Merdeka Day elections.
   With the demise of long-serving president Sultan Azlan Shah who had served from 1990, Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah will try to keep the AHF throne in Malaysia.
   The likely candidate to challenge Tengku Abdullah is said to be from Pakistan.
   MHC senior vice president Nur Azmi Ahmad will stand for the vice-president’s post, while MHC vice presidents’ Manjit Majid Abdullah; and AHF incumbents S. Shamala and Datuk Rahim Ariff will go for the council members post.
   For the record, Shamala received the second highest vote four years ago, while Rahim will be defending his seat.
   Incumbent secretary general Tan Sri P. Alagendra will vacate his post as the new AHF constitution only allows for those below 70 to stand for elections.
   “Malaysia has been the driving force in AHF with Sultan Azlan Shah at the helm, and I believe the best replacement would be Tengku Abdullah. I and three other Malaysian’s are standing for election to help Tengku Abdullah to administer the Asian body and take hockey to a new level in this region,” said Nur Azmi.
   Asian hockey are now whipping boys at the international scene, as even Pakistan, India and South Korea are struggling at the world level against second level Europen teams.
   “There has been a big slide in Asia and after the elections, AHF must work much harder to develop hockey not only at the grassroots, but also at the higher level as we used to be a power-house but now struggling to beat teams from Europe,” said Nur Azmi.
   And if Tengku Abdullah does not have a challenger by Aug 20, the other hopeful Malaysia’s will also be big winners on Merdeka Day.