Thursday, March 6, 2014

Malaysian team has history on its side

Can Malaysia make its mark at the Rabobank Hockey World Cup?

BY FIH

When you ask a Malaysian to name his or her favourite sports, the chances are that hockey will feature heavily. And this is demonstrated by the number and quality of hockey events that the south-east Asian country has hosted in recent years, as well as the excitement and festival atmosphere that the Malaysian supporters bring to these occasions.

Kuala Lumpur played host to the first Commonwealth Games to include hockey as a sport in 1998, and won a silver medal in that event, losing out 4-0 to Australia in the final. In another first, Malaysia hosted the World Cup in 2002, the only (single) World Cup to feature 16 nations – something the FIH is re-introducing in 2016. It was also the first time squads were allowed 18 players instead of the standard 16, to counter the very hot and humid conditions.
The jewel in the crown for Malaysia, and it's hockey home, Kuala Lumpur, is the annual invitation-only Sultan Azlan Shah tournament, named after the ninth King of Malaysia, Sultan Azlan Shah, a keen follower of hockey. At this popular event, which has been held since 1983, and annually since 2003, 14 teams compete for the title. While Malaysia has never won the event, they have been runners-up on four occasions, most recently last year, losing out in the final to Australia.
The Junior World Cup has been hosted in Malaysia three times, most recently in 2009. Malaysia has finished fourth on four occasions.
Malaysia's most capped player is Kuhan Shanmuganathan (341 caps), who played for the national team from 1996-2007. The second most capped player, Chua Boon Huat, was tragically killed last year in a traffic accident. When he died, he had represented his country 337 times. Of the current players, Azlan Misron is the most capped, with 314 appearances. Azlan was captain of the national side which won bronze in the 2006 Commonwealth Games. 
Malaysia has a long history of playing hockey. While the first regulated game was played in England in 1886, the first formal match in Malaysia took place just 12 years later in Kuala Lumpur, between Harris’ XI and Whitley’s XI on Nov 30, 1898.
The first international was played in 1932, and the opponents on that occasion were the Indian Olympic squad. The Indian team had won Olympic gold in 1928 and again in the year of their visit. They then remained unbeaten at the Olympics until 1960. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the visitors won 7-0. A national hockey body was formed in 1947 and eight years later, Malaya, as it was then known, competed in the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, where they finished ninth. Their best Olympic result to date was at the 1972 Olympics where they finished eighth and recorded four wins, including beating Spain and Argentina. 
In the Hockey World Cup, Malaysia have qualified seven times, including this year. Their best finish to date is fourth place in 1975, when they were hosts. This included a 2-1 win over the Netherlands. A similar result at the Hague in this year's Rabobank Hockey World Cup would certainly cement Malaysia's place at the top table of international hockey.

Going through the motions..

SSTMI Thunderbolts are set to play UniKL Young Guns in the Milo Cup final on Sunday, after both sides registered thumping wins in the first leg of the Milo Cup semi-finals on Wednesday.
     Thunderbolts zapped Olak-PKT 6-1, while UniKL beat Petaling Jaya City Council 5-2 t virtually turn the second leg semi-finals into a warm-up before the title clash on Sunday.
    Thunderbolts will be gunning for their double, while UniKL will be out to make amends to their 4-1 defeat to Thunderbolts in the League.
    However, UniKL have improved much since as even though they could only edge PJCC 2-1 in the League, there was a better performance from the University side in the first leg semi-finals.
   UniKL manager Faiz Isa said battle is only half won as they still have 70 minutes to play, and he knows that in hockey things can change with the blink of an eye.
   PJCC need to score an early goal if they harbour hopes of making a comeback and Faiz said the coaching staff of UniKL are well aware of this.
    “That is why we need to hit them first because if we allow them to score, it might give them the much needed boost,” said Faiz.
     “We cannot allow them to take control of the second leg and at the same time must make our chances count.”
    For Thunderbolts, it will just be another 70 minutes of hockey in the second leg as their minds are already on Sunday’s final.
   “We have a healthy lead and I cannot see us losing it. So, what we need to do is go through the motions and look forward to the final on Sunday,” said coach Wan Roslan Rahman.
    Olak-PKT has had a dream run thus far and their coach and manager combination of S. Sivabalan and Joseph de Silva should be proud of the exploits of their players.
   “We made many errors in the first leg but we are not going to give them a free ride into the final,” said coach Sivabalan.
    FRIDAY -- Milo Cup semi-finals (second leg): SSTMI Thunderbolts (6) v Olak-PKT (1) (5pm); UniKL Young Guns (5) v Petaling Jaya City Councik (2) (5pm). Both matches at Pitch I and II of the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil.

AZLAN SHAH CUP 2014

NOTE: The New Straits Times have yet to receive the fixtures as well as accreditation form for the Azlan Shah Cup.

By http://www.malaysianhockey.blogspot.com/
 
Although the Organisors of the 2014 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup have acted childish, we owe a duty to hocket lovers worldwide to bring you news and updates on the tournament that will commence on March 13 until March 23 in Ipoh.
Trust www.azlanshacup.com to bring you updates, the whole truth stories, things that you never know that happened, exclusive reports on the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup.
Sponsors who need the much valued Return of Investments can contact us to publicise their involvement and we do not provide poor ratings as being dished out by others as this site was developed through passion, something money cannot buy.
Do not forget www.azlanshahcup.com, your only source of news.
And those journalists that have contacted us for Media Accreditation, we are truly sorry as they have others handling the event but we thank you for your continued support.