Korea on super form

FIH / Stanislas BrochierResults Centre
Thursday 03 December

15:05 KOR : ESP 5:5 (1:4)
17:05 ENG : NED 2:3 (1:2)
19:05 GER : AUS 3:1 (3:0)

Match 10: Korea v Spain – 5:5 (1:4)

The Melbourne crowd was treated to the highest scoring game of the tournament in the first match of the day, as Korea came from 1-5 down to secure a 5-5 draw against Spain. The result means that Korea are still in with a good chance of reaching Sunday’s final, but Spain are now out of the running.

Match 11: England v Netherlands - 2:3 (1:2)

The Netherlands have defeated England in the second match of Day 4 at the ABN AMRO Champions Trophy in Melbourne, Australia. The result was sweet revenge for the Netherlands who had suffered an agonising defeat to the Englishmen in the final of the Euro Nations Championships earlier in the year. The victory has boosted Dutch hopes of glory, but condemns England to the 5th-6th play-off game where they will face Spain.

In the final match of Day 4, Germany caused a big upset by defeating home favourites Australia 3-1. A win for the Kookaburras would have seen Australia advance to the Final. However Germany came to play with three different goal scorers and a team effort that will give them great confidence heading into their encounter with the Netherlands on Saturday.

Charity Shield live today

A CHARITY Shield between Sapura and Tenaga Nasional will kick-start the six-horse Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) Premier Division at the Tun Razak Stadium today.
The match was supposed to be between Ernst and Young and Sapura, but because E&Y withdrew from the MHL, TNB were chosen instead.
On paper, TNB should be able to win hands down as they have many national players as well as young legs, while Sapura will be depending on former internationals.
Former skipper S. Kuhan is among Sapura’s cast, but the better bets are brothers Jiva and Jiwan Mohan who are still actively playing.
As for Tenaga, their stars in defence would be national defenders Madzli Ikmar and C. Baljit Singh, while they will also seven-time Best Goalkeeper S. Kumar between the posts.
Eighteen-year-old Faizal Shaari will also be making his MHL debut after scoring eight goals in the Junior World Cup, and two goals in the World Cup Qualifier in Invercargill, New Zealand.
TODAY: Charity Shield -- Sapura v TNB (Tun Razak Stadium, 8.30pm). Note: Live on Astro.
Tomorrow: UniKL v KL Hockey Club (Tun Razak Stadium, 6.30pm), Nur Insafi v Maybank (Tun Razak Stadium, 8.30pm).

Rahimi hat-trick sink Pahang

By Ajitpal Singh

RAHIMI Iskandar’s hat-trick helped Penang thrash Pahang 6-1 in a Group A match of the National Under-14 Hockey Championship in Kuantan yesterday.
Rahimi scored in the 13th, 44th and 55th minutes. Aswar Abdul Rahman added a brace in the 16th and 26th minutes while Aidil Zasri got the other goal in 67th minute.
Pahang replied through Mohd Shazrun in the 31st minute.
Penang, who defeated Kelantan (4-1) and Perak (2-1) in their previous matches, only need a draw against minnows Perlis tomorrow to top Group A and also seal a semi-final spot.
In another group match, Perak kept their hopes alive to reach the semi-finals after winning 2-0 against Perlis.
Mohd Zulhamizan gave Perak the lead in the 15th minute before Najib Abu Hassan added the second 25 minutes later.
In a Group B match, Negri Sembilan chalked up their second straight win by edging Selangor 4-3.
Ikhwan Ishak scored three goals for Negri in the 29th, 40th and 49th minutes. Aireq Azrul added their fourth in the 60th minute.
Selangor replied through Izzat Ikmal (20th), Shamy Abdul Fouzi (57th) and Nazrul Mubin (67th).
Negri, who beat Kuala Lumpur 2-0 in the first match, have two matches in hand against Terengganu (today) and Malac ca (tomorrow).

RESULTS
Group A: Pahang 1 Penang 6, Perlis 0 Perak 2
Group B: N. Sembilan 4 Selangor 3, Terengganu 1 K. Lumpur 7
TODAY’S FIXTURES
Group A: Pahang vs Perlis (9am), Kelantan vs Perak (5pm)
Group B: Malacca vs K. Lumpur (7.30am), N. Sembilan vs Terengganu (3pm).
* Kuantan Hockey Stadium

Penang on a roll

By Ajitpal Singh

PENANG recorded their second consecutive win in the National Under-14 Hockey Championship when they edged defending champions Perak 2-1 in a Group A match at the Kuantan Stadium yesterday.
Penang, who defeated Kelantan 4-1 on Sunday, took a 2-0 lead in the opening 14 minutes with goals from Mohd Izzudan Halim (fourth) and Mohd Rahimi Iskandar (14th).
Perak replied through Mohd Najib Abu Hassan in the 23rd minute.
Meanwhile, Faiz Mohd Zain’s hat trick helped Kelantan outplay Perlis 7-0 in Group A yesterday.
Faiz scored in the 32nd, 34th and 38th minutes.
Mohd Sofieyudin (20th), Mohd Zafwan (52nd), Mohd Safa mi (54th) and Mohd Fitri Zaidi (62nd) scored the other goals.

RESULTS
Group A: Perlis 0 Kelantan 7, Perak 1 Penang 2
Group B: Terengganu 3 Malacca 2, K. Lumpur 1 Selangor 1

Malaysia willing to spend Euro 16k per-month

IT is a confirmed fact that the Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) Coaching Committee is just a rag doll, being tossed in different directions, by those with vested interests.
Two recent cases strenghten the argument that the committe is just a rubber stamp, and endorses, not makes decisions on coaches.
The first is the decision by its chairman Dr Balbir Singh to issue a letter stating that national coaches can coach Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) Premier Division teams only to be shot down by the council.
The second is that it did not sit to discuss possible foreign coaches, but were told about the plans to hire a Dutch coach and assistant to take over the reigns of the national team from interim coach Tai Beng Hai.
The coaching committee chairman is the only one who was consulted as even though the Dutch coach has been offered Euro 10,000, while his assistant Euro 6,000 to coach Malaysia.
"I called for a coaching committee meeting today (yesterday) to clear the air on appointments of coaches for the MHL. I told my members that I was placed under undue pressure by the MHF secretary (Hashim Yusoff) to issue the letter with the believe that the National Sports Council and the MHF president supports this.
"However, I found out that the MHF president and council members are against the move to allow NSC paid coaches to handle MHL teams when I attended the AGM in Kuantan. That is why I have called for a meeting today.
"And the coaching committee members agreed that NSC paid coaches Tai Beng Hai, K. Dharmaraj, K. Gobinathan, Nor Saiful Zaini, Nor Azlan Bakar and Lailin Abu Hassan can't coach MHL teams.
"This decision was made because the coaching committee want to eradicate bias and favouritism when players are seelcted for national duty," said Dr Balbir.
And then Balbir revealed that his committee members did not sit to discuss, about the plans to hire a foreign coach.
"The matter was brought up during the AGM, and I and my committee members (who are state hockey officials who attend the AGM), knew about it then," said Balbir.
And then the fact that a total of Euro 16,000, not including housing and other allowances, will be paid monthly to the foreign coach and his assistant was revealed after TimeSport found out that the coach was in Malaysia to negotiate the terms of employment.