The AHF brotherhood...

THE Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) showed their brotherhood of 30 countries yesterday at their congress in Kuala Lumpur when all posts were won unposed.
   When nominations closed on Aug 21, Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah became the AHF president unopposed, and so did incumbent treasurer Fumio Ogura of Japan.
   And yesterday, a multitude of withdrawals saw only five vice president’s and 10 council members remaining, hence no need for the members to cast their ballots as it was the magical numbers needed.
   For Malaysia, Datuk Nur Azmi Ahmad and Manjit Majid Abdullah withdrew their nominations, while incumbent council members S. Shamala and Datuk Rahim Ariff were returned unopposed.
   Outgoing acting president Tan Sri P. Alagendra, who served as AHF secretary general for 18 years vacated his seat with dignity as FIH president Leandro Negre was present to bestow him with a special award.
   Alagendra was also made into an AHF honorary president for life.
    “First of all I would need to get a better idea about the strength of the AHF, after which the priority would be to make the region stronger as Asia is now far behind Europe and Oceania.
   “There is plenty to do to take Asian teams into the top six in the world, and also help countries which are still at a development state,” said Tengku Abdullah.
    He is also the FA of Malaysia as well as Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) president. Tengku Abdullah is also a member of the FIH Executive Board.
   “I still stand by my decision now to seek re-election (in November) as the MHC president and I have a few names as replacement, but can’t reveal them at this juncture.
   “Also, by becoming the AHF president, I become an automatic FIH EB member so I will request the FIH to name another Asian candidate into their EB to take over my elected position,” said Tengku Abdullah.
    AHF Vice Presidents: Chaiyapak Siriwat (Thai), Seksenbayez Berikkazy (Kaz), Narinder Batra (Ind), Rana Mujahid Ali (Pak), Shin Jung Hee (S Kor).
   Council members: Datuk Rahim Ariff (Mas), S. Shamala (Mas), Mathavan Devadas (Sing), Bahram Shafie (Irn), Akhrat Rasool (Pak), Sumith Edirisinghe (S Lanka), Zuhair Alajmi (Oman), Abdur Rashid Sikder (Bang), Li Gao Chao (Ch), Masako kamisuki (Jpn).