skip to main |
skip to sidebar
MALAYSIAN Hockey Confederation (MHC) Competitions Committee secretary Hashim Yusoff has abruptly put in his resignation letter.
His last day is today. Hashim confirmed his resignation from MHC, but declined to elaborate.
The former Armed Forces player was brought into Malaysian hockey administration by the late MHF secretary S. Satgunam after the 1998 Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games.
MALAYSIA beat Bangladesh 8-0 to finish fifth in the Junior Asia Cup in Kuantan yesterday.
It was a lopsided match from the start, as Malaysia took a 3-0 lead at half-time and never let Bangladesh back into the match.
Even though Malaysia failed to qualify for the Junior World Cup next year, they still showed some determination to beat China 5-1 in the seventh-eighth classification, and then Bangladesh by a big margin.
Sufi Ismat scored a brace in the second and sixth minutes, while Haziq Samsul also nailed a hat-trick in the 30th, 44th and 66th minutes.
The other goals were scored by Najmi Jazlan (56th, 58th) and Azwar Rahman (56th).
"Even though we failed to qualify for the World Cup, these players still deserve praise because its not east to wake up from such a disaster to beat China and Bangladesh by big margins in the lower classification," said coach Arul Selvaraj.
Seniors coach Stephen van Huizen, who is in Kuantan to watch the matches, will select seven players from the juniors squad to train with him.
Three players who have played with the seniors before in many international tournaments Shahril Saabah, Meor Hassan and Haziq Samsul are among the seven.
"I will select seven, including the three that have played with the seniors before because there are many talented players in the juniors side, and its unfortunate that they did not qualify for the Junior World Cup," said Van Huizen.
The seniors are in training for the Azlan Shah Cup next April, where teams like Germany and Netherlands have been invites. Defending champions New Zealand, silver medallists Australia, India, England and Japan are the other teams that have been invited for the Silver Jubilee of the Cup.
RESULTS: Seventh-Eighth: China 7 Oman 2; Fifth-Sixth: Malaysia 8 Bangladesh 0; Third-Fourth: Japan x South Korea x; Final: India x South Korea x.
THE Malaysian Hockey Condeferation (MHC) have invited Germany and Netherlands for the 25th Azlan Shah Cup on April 7-17 next year.
The Silver Jubilee of the Cup, which started as a biennial event in 1983 and then became a yearly tournament in 1998, will be an eight-team event and follow the quarter-finals format for all teams.
Malaysia will be up against the best teams in the world like Australia, England, India, New Zealand and Japan -- provided the teams accept the invitations sent on Oct 29.
To date, India is the only team which has replied in the positive.
Australia are the most successful Azlan Shah Cup team with eight titles (1983, 1996, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2011, 2013, 2014), followed by India who won five golds including the 2010 joint champions with South Korea (1985, 1991, 1995, 2009, 2010*)
Germany and Netherlands rarely take up the invitations due to clash with domestic tournaments. Germany won in 1987 and 2001 while Netharlands won in 2006.
Malaysia have never won gold in the tournament but have five silvers to show (1985, 2007, 2009, 2013, 2014), while New Zealand are the defending champions as they beat Australia 3-1 in a penalty shoot-out after a 2-2 draw in regulation time last year.
Malaysia are in training under coach Stephen van Huizen and Technival Director Tery Walsh but it would be too much to as for a gold in the 25th Edition.
MALAYSIA beat China 5-1 in the seventh-eighth classification match in the Junior Asia Cup in Kuantan Saturday, where only pride was at stake.
Coach Arul Selvaj's boys will now meet Bangladesh in the fifth-sixth classification today after they beat Oman 3-2 in shoot-out. The full time score was 2-2.
Shahril Saabah scored a hat-trick (41st, 52nd, 64th) while the other goals were scored by Nik Aiman Rozemi (56th) and Syed Shafiq Cholan (67th). The China goal was scored by E Wenlong in the 53rd minute.
At half-time the score was 0-0: "During the break I lost my head a little and 'punished' some boys who were not putting in any effort, because this was a match to show the stake holders MHC (Malaysian Hockey Confederation) and NSC (National Sports Council) that these boys should not be disbanded just because they lost concentration for the last two minutes against South Korea.
"Yes, we missed the Junior World Cup boat by two minutes, but we have some very talented players in this squad and they should have a continuous programme to make them better players," said Arul.
Arul used his second goalkeeper Fazri Rahim for the full duration of the match and he played a big role in stopping China.
"Fazri has never played a full match before and he proved that he can be relied upon and this is good for the future. As for Shahil, he showed the way for his team-mates on how to make a come-back from disaster and pick up the pieces no matter what.
"We only have the fifth spot to aim for now, and we need to win by big margins to show that this team is not a bunch of losers, only that they fumbled for two minutes," said Arul.
Malaysia lost out on the Junior World Cup when they allowed South Korea to come back into the match in the last two minutes, by scoring two goals to hold Malaysia 3-3, and then beat them 4-1 in the shoot-out.
RESULTS: Fifth-eighth: Oman 2 Bangladesh 2 (Bangladesh win shoot-out 3-2), Malaysia 5 China 1.
Semi-finals: Japan 6 India 1, South Korea 2 Pakistan 2 (Pakistan beat Japan 8-7 in shoot out).
TODAY: Seventh-Eighth: China v Oman (3.45pm, Pitch II); Fifth-Sixth: Malaysia v Bangladesh (6pm, Pitch I); Third-Fourth: Japan v Korea (6.15pm, Pitch I); Final: India v Pakistan (8.30pm, Pitch I).
Note: All matches at the Kuantan Stadium.
THE Junior Asia Cup is officially over for Malaysia, and the process of picking up the bits and pieces will need at least another two years.
Two minutes of madness was all it took to send defending champions Malaysia to the abyss of the tournament, and from fourth placed in the last Junior World Cup, to non-participants.
Many officials, coaches, fans and even the cook at the team hotel still can't come to grips on how Malaysia blew a two-goal lead twice and then collapsed in the penalty shoot-out to hand South Korea the World Cup ticket on a golden platter.
Leading 2-0 at half-time, and then 3-1 with two minutes to go, and eventually losing the shoot-out 4-1 has equaled the worse performance ever from a Malaysian side.
The senior side were in the same situation when playing for the Olympics ticket in the Belgium World League. Malaysia lead India 2-1 in the quarter-finals, but a total collapse saw them lose 3-2.
Then the seniors went on to lose the fifth spot 4-1 to Ireland, a team which they beat 4-2 in the pool match. Fifth placed Ireland qualified for the Olympics as well.
And with the senior team failing to qualify for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics on a same script, Malaysia can look forward to a two-year rest from international tournaments.
A team official said they did everything for the last 18 months, except touch the players feet to prepare them for this tournament.
"Right now I do not want to discuss the future of Project 2016, as we still have two more matches to play and finish fifth to ease some pain. Not qualifying for the world cup is a disaster, but we have to pick ourselves up to make sure we finish the best (among the rest)," said juniors coach Arul Selvaraj.
Japan, South Korea, India and Pakistan will be playing in New Delhi in December 2016, and the other teams will be from Europe (six), Oceania (two), Africa (two) and Pan-American (two).
Postmortems are ongoing at every turn, and the social media has been unkind and even abusive towards the coaching staff and players.
The reality is that Malaysia lack thinking players, and the team became dreamers in the last two minutes.
"I had a chat with the players, and the conclusion is that they did not use their head to defend in the last two minutes, but started dreaming about winning (and the celebrations that come with it) when the (huge and colourful) scoreboard showed two minutes to end and Malaysia 3 Korea 1," said Arul.
The dream turned into a nightmare, as South Korea celebrated wildly and the Malaysian players were rudely shaken out of their slumber.
It will be another two years of nightmare for for Malaysian hockey, a price they paid for a two-minute dream.
A parting shot came from the team hotel cook during breakfast: "They should have thrown the ball forward and kept it there for two minutes, and the match would have been well-cooked, and ready to serve."
As easy as cooking two-minute instant noodles, but they burned their future to ashes.
SATURDAY: Fifth-eighth: Oman v Bangladesh (3.45pm, Pitch II), Malaysia v China (4pm, Pitch I).
Semi-finals: Japan v India (6.15pm, Pitch I), South Korea v Pakistan (8.30pm, Pitch I).
