Sunday, January 19, 2014

Paul Revington quits, again, Dharmaraj takes over...

 Dharmaraj celebrates with his charges in New Delhi after Malaysia beat South Korea 2-1 to qualify for the Junior World Cup semi-finals.
 Paul Revington 

SOUTH African Paul Revington has quit as national seniors  chief coach, again, and this time it is final as Malaysian  Hockey Confederation (MHC) have accepted his resignation.
    And K. Dharmaraj will fill his shoes as the national seniors  coach, while Revington’s assistant Arul Selvaraj will helm the  juniors side.
    This decision was taken at a hush-hush meeting held in  Kuala Lumpur yesterday, with the official announcement  only due to be made my MHC today.
   Revington sent in his quit letter last week, and on Thursday  was present to name the 35 trainees for the senior World Cup,  as well as the Azlan Shah Cup, the Champions Challenge, the  Commonwalth Games and the Asian Games -- all of which  will be held this year.
   Revington never gave any indication that he had sent in his  quit letter, but was his jovial self when asked about his wife’s  pregnancy after the press conference to name the trainees.
    “My wife is due in the first week of March, and the delivery  will be in Malaysia. After 13 years, we will finally have twins.  One boy and one girl,” said Revington, without a hint of the  drama to unfold.
   But before the press conference to name the trainees,  Dharmaraj had told this scribe that there is going to be a  major reshuffle next week, but decline to give further detailes  when pressed further.
    Dharmaraj did not return calls or sms, but revington did  reply to an sms: “I have resigned, that is correct, I can talk - but I don’t want to give any official quotes yet.”
   This is the second time the South African has sent in his  quit letter, the first being in on June 15, 2013.
   Then, the MHC coaching committee met at Bukit Jalil, with  its 16 members proposing that Junior World Cup coach K.  Dharmaraj and 1Mas Project Director Lim Chiow Chuan be  removed from their duties.
   Apparently, both Dharmaraj and Chiow Chuan had a hand  in Revington’s sudden decision even though the World  League was to be held in Johor Baru from June 29-July 7.
   But an intervention by MHC presdient Tengku Abdullah  Sultan Ahmad Shah saw revington retract his resignation,  and helm Malaysia to finish fifth in the World League and  quqlify for the World Cup at the Hague, Netherlands on may  31 to June 15.
    And when Revingtom named the training squad, he was  asked is he could work with Dharmaraj, who was promoted  to the senior side after Malaysia finished fourth in the Junior  World Cup.
    Revington answered: “I have had problems in the past with  the coach (Dharmaraj) but now that we will be preparing a  team for the World Cup and Asian Games, there are no  problems. He (Dharmaraj) will be given tasks to prepare the  team.”
    Apparently, Revingtion quit due to health reasons.