KLHC struggle, Tenaga cruise..

TNB Cup champions Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club (KLHC) edged Sapura 3-1 in the first leg semi-finals at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil yesterday.
  But in the second semi-finals, Tenaga hammered Maybank 6-2 to virtually book their final spot, making the return leg semi-finals an uphill battle for the Tigers.
  However, it was KLHC who suffered an early setback, only to bounce back just before the half-time to tie Sapura at 1-1.
  In a drab semi-finals, Sapura took the lead in the 24th minute when Joel Samuel dribbled three players and shot to the top of the roof.
  However, KLHC came back into the picture seven minutes later when Razie Rahim scored from a penalty corner attempt.
  KLHC only had two penalty corners on the 15th and 31st minutes, while Spura did not have any for the first 35 minutes.
  After the breather, Pakistan import Akhtar Ali broke the deadlock with an early field attempt in the 37th minute.
   And Chua Boon Huat gave KLHC a better cushion into the return leg on Sunday with a penalty corner deflection goal in the 55th minute to make it 3-1.
  And the score remained until the final hooter.
  "We made several errors in defense and KLHC capitalised on it, but we still have a fighting chance in the return leg.
  "We scored the early goal on the counter but then opted to defend too deep and paid the price," said Sapura manager S. Kuhan.
  "But the tie is still alive and we need to believe in our ability in order to get a positive result on Sunday. We should really have created some penalty corners as that could have helped our cause, as none came our way."
  In the other semis, the Tenaga goals were scored by Izat Hakimi (eighth), Shahril Saabah (17th, 66th), Firhan Ashaari (27th) and Faiz Helmi (55th, 63rd).
  An own goal by Tenaga, Aminuddin Zain, in the 21st minute and a field goal from Shakeel Abbasi in the 70th minute narrowed the gap for Maybank.
  RESULTS -- Semi-finals First Leg: TNB Cup -- Sapura 1 KLHC 3, Maybank 2 Tenaga 6.
   President's Cup: TNB Thunderbolts 6 Ipoh CC 3, Sunday 2030 1 UiTM 2.
   SUNDAY: Semi-finals Second Leg: TNB Cup -- Tenaga v Maybank v (6pm), KLHC v Sapura (8pm).
   President's Cup: Ipoh CC v TNB Thunderbolts (6pm), UiTM v Sunday 2030 (8pm).
  Note: All matches at Pitch I and II of National Stadium Bukit Jalil.

Under-16 dispute..

KUALAR Lumpur HA secretary V. Rajamanikam yesterday blasted the Under-16 selection for Mannheim, Germany, by calling it biased.
  The Four-Nation will be held on May 18-20, and Malaysia will be up against Belgium, Netherlands and Germany.
  "KL were the National Under-16 champions for five consecutive years before losing out in the semi-finals (2-1 to Malacca) this season. A big number of our players have been playing together since they were under-14 and had won the Under-16 title for KL in previous years.
  "That is why I am calling the Mannheim selection biased, as only one KL player was selected for the squad of 18," said Rajamanikam.
  The selected KL player is goalkeeper Suhayl Ainol Azmi.
  However, coach S. Prakash defended his selection, by saying that it was based on merit.
  "A panel of coaches selected the players based on friendly matches and also fitness, and there was no bias towards any state.
  "We had a short time to assemble the side, so the number one criteria was fitness and that is why some of the players did not make the grade," said Prakash, who is also the Bukit Jalil Sports School coach.
  In the National Under-16 Perak lifted the title.

DAP rocket blasted onto Pas moon...

THE Prime Minister's religious advisor Datuk Seri Dr Abdullah Md Zin yesterday blasted the DAP rocket all the way to the Pas moon, when he lambasted both parties for playing a 'hudud drama', just for the sake of a few votes.

  PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang had said that even though DAP were vocal about the implementation of hudud if Pakatan Rakyat were to come into power, they were not opposed to it.

   Umno on the other hand, were non-committal on the matter, while silently opposing its implementation.

  "It is very disturbing how Pas can make statements without any proof or basis, just for the sake  of winning a few extra votes. Everybody knows DAP's disdain on hudut, and Hadi is living in a dream world, and should wake up to reality," said Abdullah, who was the former MP for Besut.

  Abdullah pointed out that UMNO has always championed the Islamic way of living, as evident to the implementation of Syariah law.

   "Umno has always been championing the five tenets of Islam, and Syariah law is implemented in all the courts in every state. How can 

Pas claim that Umno is silently opposed to Islam by not implementing 

hudud law, as even Hadi himself had said earlier that hudud is only 0.001 per cent of the total laws in Islam?

  "It is DAP that has been very vocal in opposing the implementations of Islamic law, as Karpal Singh (Dap National Chairman) had said "over my dead body" when asked about it?

   "Another question for PAS is that how come they can't even implement hudud in Kelantan which they hold? If they can't follow their own dreams in Kelantan, why shout and rant about it during the election period only?," lambasted Abdullah.

  At a function for the retired in Kuala Besut yesterday, Besut 

Parliament candidate Datuk Seri Ibrahim Jusoh also took Pas to task.

   "Nothing that Pas politicians say can be trusted as they have been playing this game with DAP for decades. Hudud or no hudud always comes to the forefront during election years and is then placed in the dark after that.

  "Pas is fighting a losing battle in Terengganu, as they have failed 

to get the Chinese here to listen to them. As an example, a few Chinese got together and constructed a Pas booth near Jerteh, but it only lasted one day as it was torn down because they could not work together for even 24-hours.

  "How can they run a country is they can't even agree on a small booth in the run-up to the elections?," said Idris.

   About 200 pensioners were feted at the function, and most of them live and vote in the Kota Putera constituency which will see a three cornered fight between Barisan Nasional, Pas and PKR candidates.

HADI: Target smaller groups..

PAS President Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang said yesterday in Kuala Besut that the party is no longer interested in large scale gatherings, but will concentrate on small groups to get their message to the masses.
  He paid a visit to Kota Putara Pas candidate Adam Mat Said in a small village mosque yesterday where about 50 supporters turned out to hear him speak.
  "We found out that large gatherings serve no purpose as there is no personal touch in it for the targeted group. There are also many outsiders who also attend and we do not know who they are or what they want.
  "That is why we will mobilise about 20 people from various parts of the country to concentrate on smaller groups by holding talks at supporters houses and we also do not need to apply for permits to do this.
  "I feel it much more effective to spread our manifesto news in this manner, as we intend to wrestle back some of the seats which we lost in Terengganu," said Abdul Hadi.
  There was no fiery speech, as he is normally associated with, as he advised the small group of supporters to hold steadfast to their believes and not listen to rumours which could derail their stand.
  "We need to keep ourselves united and works towards the party's success, and after that, the party manifesto will be realised as promised," he said to the target group in Kamung Lahar, Kota Putera.
   There will be a three-cornered battle in Kota Putara as PKR also nominated Mohamed Abdul Ghani Ibrahim to battle Barisan Nasional's Mohd Mahdi Musa.
   Besut has one Parliament and four State seats, all of which were won by BN in the last elections.

KLHC champs, yet again...

When the TNB Malaysian Hockey League got underway, many had written off defending champions KL Hockey Club, especially when they lost six national players to Terengganu HT.

But champions are made and not born, and with that in mind, manager George Koshy and coach K. Dharmaraj started building the team again and in that process made some intelligent signings, especially foreign players.

That was not all for even the youngsters turned out to be key players in their quest to retain the titles they had won. And today part of that journey for redemption was completed when KLHC defeated Maybank 4-2 to retain the TNBMHL league title at the USM Stadium in Penang.

What made it more impressive was the fact that KLHC has retained the league title with two matches to spare and for Koshy, this is the first step.

"It is always good to win and more importantly play well in the process. No doubt that we were written off but I guess that only spurred the players to play better and as a result we have the league title in the bag," said Koshy.

"But we are not about to take our foot off the pedal as we intend to keep the momentum going and play our best team in the remaining two matches. The knockout stage is a totally new ball game and we will take it one match at a time.

"It was a very competitive league and really it is always difficult to defend a title. I am pround of what the players have done but there is still unfinished business as so far as I am concerned."

Indeed the celebrations by the KLHC players were muted and Chua Boon Huat summed it up: " We have to forget the win and focus on defending the TNB Cup."

For mayban coach Wallace Tan, the failure to land the league title was a dissapointment but all is not lost.

"We have to try win the runner up spot and to do that we need to win the remaining matches. It was a good performance today but we failed to make use of the chances that we created," said Wallace.

KLHC took an early lead as Muhammad Imran converted a penalty corner in the 3rd minute. A brilliant reverse stick hit by Akhtar Ali in the 15th minute doubled KLHC's advantage.

But a deflection by Imran past his keeper Roslan Jamaluddin gave Maybank a lifeline in the 26h minute. And seconds before te halftime hooter, Shakeel Abbasi put Maybank on level terms.

KLHC were undeterred ad went 3-2 ahead through Muhammad Umar Bhutta in the 48th minute before Muhammad Najib Hassan made sure of the title with a goal in the 61st minute.