Sapura not keen to play away

SAPURA wrote a two-page letter to the Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) yesterday, and it had ‘No’ in every para graph to Nur Insafi’s request to play one leg of the Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) Premier Division quarter-finals in Penang.
Nur Insafi club president S. Thaitchana, who is also their coach, had said that if MHF deny their request to play one leg in Penang, they will stage a walkover.
“I have been following this new development in the press, and on Sunday, I received a call from the MHF asking me if Sapura are wiling to play one leg in Penang, and I replied in writing today (yesterday).
“First of all, Nur Insafi manager attended the team managers meeting where it was decided that all the knock- out matches will be held in Kuala Lumpur.
“None of the team managers, including Nur Insafi’s, protested then, and Sapura’s view is that the MHF stick to that decision,” said Sapura team manager Abdulah Yunus.
Abdulah also said it will be too taxing for his players to travel to Penang immediately after the first leg, and this will be a disadvantage against them.
In the letter, Abdulah also pointed out that eight of his players, and two of his coaches celebrate Thaipusam, and travelling to Penang on Jan 30 is out of the question.
“The first leg is on Friday, while Thaipusam is on the next day. And we play the return leg on Sunday.
“The religious festival is a public holiday and my players have made plans to celebrate it with their families so travelling on Saturday is out of the question,” said Abdulah.
Sapura feel the request to play in Penang is a of personal nature, and not binding.
“We had also made a personal request to MHF to postpone our Jan 16 match in Johor Baru to Jan 17 because our player Jiwa Mohan was getting married on the 16th.
“All my players and support staff wanted to attend the wedding in Kuala Lumpur, but MHF turned it down saying it is personal in nature. We lost two players, including his brother Jivan for that match.
“However, we respect the decision taken by MHF then as it was a personal matter, and now I feel the MHF should also take a similar stand in Nur Insafi’s request.
“In short, we want to play both the matches in KL, as agreed in the team manager meeting,” said Abdulah.
Nur Insafi are expected to turn up for the first leg, and boycott the return leg if MHF deny their request, even though the consequences will be severe on the club.

MHF: Competition rules do not side Nur Insafi

THERE is only a slim chance that Nur Insafi will be allowed to play one leg of their Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) Premier Division quarter-finals match in Penang.
Nur Insafi coach, who is also the club president, S. Thaitchana had said on Saturday that if the Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) do not allow them to play one match in Penang, he will withdraw the team from the MHL.
Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) secretary Hashim Yusoff said yesterday that Nur Insafi complicated matters because they did not protest during the three team managers meetings, and also did not submit an official request to play one leg of the quarter-finals in Penang.
“First of all, I would like to say that the MHF held not one, as the norm, but three team managers meeting before the MHL and it was pointed out clearly in the slide presentation that all the quarter-final matches will be held in Kuala Lumpur.
“None of the team managers protested then, and the MHF took it in good faith and made it part of the tournament regulations,” said Hashim.
Hashim is also baffled on why Thaitchana is harping on the issue this late in competition.
“If they had any problems or suggestions, it should have been brought up during the managers meetings, and not this late. Also, I have not received any written request from Nur Insafi regarding their wish to play one home match,” said Hashim.
However, on goodwill, MHF will approach Nur Insafi’s opponents Sapura and seek their views before making an official stand on the matter.
“We are here to promote hockey and so, purely on goodwill, we will ask Sapura if they are agreeable to play one match in Penang.
“But if Sapura refuse, and say that we should follow tournament regulations, we can’t force them,” said Hashim.
Nur Insafi fielded 16 foreign players from India and Pakistan, but still ended second from the bottom in the League.
Thaitchana has said that the club spent about RM500,000 for the league and had also hit out at the umpires for being bias.
The club president has also said that he will only field a team next year if MHF bring in foreign umpires, and now, Nur Insafi are willing to suffer the consequences of being banned if their request if not met.
An MHF official said MHF had bent backwards on the many Nur Insafi requests, but it looks like the club hav ehit a dead end this time.
“The MHF have spent close to RM40,000 on transport and accommodation on Nur Insafi alone. Then, we also stepped in to help the club secure visa for their players when the Immigration department refused.
“We also have records of providing Nur Insafi with ad ditional hotel stay when they played in Johor Baru and Malacca. But I don’t think Sapura is going to agree to play in Penang, and if Nur Insafi withdraw, they will have to suffer the consequences.”
Jan 29: Quarter-finals (first leg): Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club v Airod; Tenaga Nasional v UiTM; Maybank v UniKL-Ibil; Nur Insafi v Sapura.

Nur Insafi bombshell

Unbridled joy: MHL Premier Division champions KLHC players celebrate with the prizes yesterday. — A. MALEX YAHAYA / The Star

NUR Insafi of Penang beat Sapura 4-1 at the Bukit Serindit Stadium in Malacca yesterday, and then threw a bombshell when their coach S. Thaitchana said he will withdraw the team from the quarter-finals if the Malaysia Hockey Fed eration (MHF) say no to his home-and-away request.
The MHF plan to hold all the quarter-final matches, starting on Jan 29, in Kuala Lumpur, but Thaitchana feels it will rob him of home ground advantage.
“My stand is clear, if the MHF do not allow us to play in Penang in the two-leg quarters, I will withdraw the team. It does not make sense as the MHF said they are keen to promote hockey at states, and then deny us the chance to play in front of our crowd,” said Thaitchana.
Thaitchana also said that he has made his request known to MHF, but they said they will not budge from their decision.
“If they are not willing to budge, I am also not willing to budge, and I am prepared to face the consequences of being banned.
“We can live with that as it has become pointless playing in the MHL if it is run unprofessionally,” said Thaitchana who is also the club president.
UniKL-Ibil also dished out a surprise when they held Maybank 4-4 in the final Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) Premier Division league match.
It was actually a full dress rehearsal for the quarter-finals, as both teams will square off again in the last eight on Jan 29.
And the other set of quarter-finalists will also see Nur Insafi and Sapura squaring off again.
However, both the results can’t be taken as a yardstick for the knock-our stage, as it has no bearings on the standings.
K. Gobinathan set the tone for Maybank with a fifth minute penalty corner goal, but Nor Faeez Ibrahim equalised in the seventh minute, and the match went into high gear.
Nor Faeez then gave Unikl-Ibil the lead in the ninth minute, and Taufik Hamid made it 3-1 in the 27th minute.
Maybank came back strongly with goals from Gobinathan (28th), Hafifi Hafiz (40th) and Suhaimi Ibrahim (52nd).
But in the final minute, Amir Farid scored a field goal to give the young side a well deserved draw.
In another match, Nur Insafi scored off Vinod Kumar (10th, 66th), Kul Bushan (15th) and Nur Hrsikesa (56th). The Sapura goal was scored by S. Kuhan in the 34th minute.
RESULTS: Sapura 1 Nur Insafi 4, UniKL-Ibil 4 Maybank 4, Tenaga Nasional 4 KL Hockey Club 3.


P W D L F A Pts
KLHC 10 8 1 1 34 13 25
TENAGA 10 8 0 2 27 11 24
MAYBANK 10 4 4 2 20 15 16
SAPURA 10 3 2 5 17 17 11
NUR INSAFI 10 2 1 7 14 34 7
UNIKL 10 0 2 8 9 30 2

New Straits Times rule hockey and netball

NST hockey and netball players with their medals.

A SHAHIR OTHMAN field goal was enough to seal victory for the New Straits Times editorial team in the NPC-Milo Inter-Media 9-a-Side Hockey and Netball Championships in Kelab Aman, Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
The NST “B” team made it a double for the newspaper when they emerged champions in the netball tournament after edging the National Press Club team 4-3 in an intense final.
The hockey final saw NST “A”, which was the side representing the editorial department, face-off with NST “B”, a combined team of staff from all other departments.
NST “B” led by news editor MK Megan were the hot favourites entering the final, but were pinned back for most of the 20-minute final, until the point when goalmouth melee in the 15th minute was settled by Shahir, who hit the board from close range.
The Malay Mail finished third in the round-robin five-team competition, while Bernama finished fourth.
Champions of both competitions went home with a RM1,200 cash prize, while the runners-up took home RM1,000, RM800 for third and RM500 went to the fourth placed team.

UniKL-Ibil makes good investment

UNIKL-Ibil ended-up at the bottom of the pool, but their coach I. Vickneswaran and sponsors are more than happy with their young side’s debut performance in the Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) Premier Division.
The team has an average age of 22, and they met their more experienced opponents head-on. Their only heavy defeat was a 5-1 drubbing against Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club (KLHC), which is made up of national players.
UniKL can hold their heads up, as they only lost 1-0 to Sapura, and 2-0 to Tenaga Nasional.
“Our position on the standings does not look good, but I as well as our sponsors and University are happy with the maturity shown by the young players in their debut MHL,” said Vickneswaran, a former International himself.
The youngest in the team is 16-year-old Taufik Hamid, who started jittery, but is now a regular in the side.
“Taufik was a bundle of nerves when I first fielded him, but he has shown tremendous improvement, and is now a regular on the starting list. I see a bright future for the lad, and his start was made possible by the faith placed by the University, and our sponsors.
UniKL staff make it a point to watch the boys play, while Ibil is an IT company whose other sporting interest is Rallying in Felda areas.
The boys scored a total of five goals and let in 26 in nine matches, and as comparison, second from the bottom Nur Insafi who have 16 foreign players from India and Pakistan scored 10 and let in 33 goals.
Today, the six teams will be playing their final league match before the quarter-finals begin on Jan 29. However, all six positions have already been cemented last weekend, and the matches will be purely warm-ups.
League champions KLHC will pocket RM30,000, Tenaga RM20,000 and Maybank RM15,000.
Prize money for Division one will also be presented today with champions UiTM receiving RM20,000, ATM Airod RM15,000 and Malacca City Council RM10,000.
In the quarter-finals, KLHC will square off against Division One runners-up Airod, while Tenaga Nasional will meet Division One champions UiTM.
The other quarter-final, first-leg matches, will see May bank playing UniKL-IBIL and Sapura squaring off against Nur Insafi.
TODAY: Sapura v Nur Insafi (4.30pm), UniKL-Ibil v May bank (6.30pm), Tenaga Nasional v KL Hockey Club (8.30pm).
All matches at the Bukit Serindit Stadium in Malacca.


STANDINGS

P W D L F A Pts
KLHC 9 8 1 0 31 9 25
TENAGA 9 7 0 2 23 8 21
MAYBANK 9 4 3 2 16 11 15
SAPURA 9 3 2 4 16 13 11
NUR INSAFI 9 1 1 7 10 33 4
UNIKL 9 0 1 8 5 26 1