Friday, March 17, 2017

National U16: Perlis the odd One..

FOURTEEN Boys' and 13 Girls' teams will compete in the National Under-16 hockey tournament at two venues in Kuala Lumpur starting on Saturday.
  Only Perlis failed to send a team for the Girls, while the rest of the states fielded teams for both genders.
  Both the tournaments will be played at the Kuala Lumpur HA, and Education Ministry artificial pitches in Jalan Pantai.
  Last year, held in Malacca, the tournament was a nine-a-side event, but its back to 11-a-side.
  Boys' defending champions are Terengganu, while the Girls' champions are Selangor. Terengganu were held to a 1-1 draw by Selangor, but won the shoot-out 2-0.
  Selangor also ended with a 2-2 draw against Penang, but won the shoot-out 3-1.
  Sabah were initially supposed to host both the events, but a Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) inspection team found their pitch and facilities not up to the mark.
  The MHC took over the hosts job, and KLHA were roped in as the 11th hour venue.
  "Both our girls and boys teams have been training for a month now, and hopefully the perform much better than last year," said KLHA secretary V. Rajamanickam.
  While the KL girls beat Malacca 3-0 for bronze, the KL boys  finished ninth.
  Boys -- Group A: Penang, Johor, Terengganu, Negri Sembilan, Kedah;   Group B: Malacca, Perak, Perlis, Selangor, Sarawak; Group C: Kuala Lumpur, Pahang, Sabah, Kelantan.
  Girls -- Group A: Selangor, Kedah, Sabah, Kelantan, Sarawak; Group B: Pahang, Negri Sembilan, Terengganu, Penang; Group C: Perak, Malacca, Johor, Kuala Lumpur.