SAVE THE KINRARA OVAL, DON’T KILL THE GAME

BERNAMA -- KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 6: Cricket may be the second most popular sport in the world, but its growth in Malaysia is in peril after the only One-day International (ODI) ranked ground in the country, considered the best in South East Asia, is to be taken over for redevelopment.
  The iconic Kinrara Oval in Puchong, which once saw the actions of current and former Indian captains Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar, both regarded as the best batsmen in the world, had been asked to close down.
  The Malaysian Cricket Association (MCA) were given a notice to vacate the ground, ‘the home of Malaysian cricket’ by the end of this month by the developer of the land.
  Despite more than 400 matches hosting thousands of cricketers from schools to international level held at the ground, the continuous development in Klang Valley, which had already sacrificed many football fields, looked set to continue at the one of the fastest drying cricket ground in the world.
  To show disagreement on the matter, more than 50 people from the cricket fraternity turned up at the ground bringing placards written “Don’t kill the game, save Kinrara Oval,” while many others took to social media platforms to show support for the ground using #SaveTheOval hashtags.
  MCA President Mahinda Vallipuram said losing Kinrara Oval, where MCA’s headquarters was located, would kill the development of the sport, which was growing rapidly in the country.
  “This is not just losing one ground, this is about the development of the sport in the country. Now we have more than 35,000 active cricketers at various levels playing the game, while our initiative with the Ministry of Education (MOE) for the past several years saw an increase in the number of cricket-playing schools in Malaysia to more than 800 from 250 four years ago.
  “Today we have about 800 school teachers with Level 0 and 1 coaching certificates. We are also saving at least half a million ringgit a year by having our players’ hostel here…All these work are been done and administered from our office and facilities located here.
   “Development of a sport does not happen in a short period of time, it needs 10 to 15 years to yield results. So what we are doing now is for the continuous development of the sport. So, we hope to solve this problem amicably,” he told Bernama when met at the ground.
  Mahinda said he had discussed the matter with the Youth and Sports Ministry’s secretary-general Datuk Lokman Hakim Ali and a meeting between MCA and the ministry would be held to find a solution.
  Meanwhile, one of the protesters, Mohamed Yusri Rauf, who was playing in the T20 Corporate League said the Kinrara Oval was more than a cricket playing ground for the cricketers.
  “It is like a home to us… We need to save this ground which is the national ground for Malaysian cricket since the past two decades. This is the only ODI ranked ground in South East Asia and the best in Asia outside the Test-playing Nations,” Mohamed Yusri, who was also a commentator, told reporters.
  The Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) Cricket Association Advisor, Lt Col (Rtd) Gerard Denis Singam said such sporting facilities must be saved for the development of sports in the country.
  “We are talking about winning medals in the Olympics and Asian Games but right down at grassroots level, we are not taking care of sports…This is small piece of land, everybody wants to take it, for what?
  “Let’s save it for cricket…. I was here when they started work on the ground in 2003, it was bare, just sand and grass. We built this oval to become one of the best in the region,” the founder of women’s cricket said.
  Among the tournaments hosted at the Kinrara oval were the 2008 Under-19 (U-19) World Cup, 2006-07 DLF Cup played between Australia, India and the West Indies (seven matches), 2017 ACC U-19 Asia Cup, 2017 SEA Games and ACC Women’s Asia Cup, while recently the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) picked the Kinrara Oval as its home to play its women’s limited-overs series against Australia on Oct 18-29.
  The Malaysian men’s team is ranked 27th in the world among 95 cricket playing nations, while at last year’s Kuala Lumpur SEA Games, Malaysia bagged a gold, silver and bronze medals.
  

Kinrara Oval in dire straits...

By Jugjet Singh

October 6, 2018 @ 6:28pm

THE five-acre Kinrara Oval is set to be reclaimed by Permodalan Nasional Berhad on Oct 31 to build condominiums, but still, Malaysia Cricket Association (MCA) are keeping their fingers crossed for a miracle.
  And even though Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Rahman has yet to meet with MCA on the matter, it is said that he is working behind the scenes to stop this massacre of a sacred cricket ground.
  MCA honorary secretary Iqbal Ali Kassim Ali confirmed they receive an eviction notice dated Oct 31, but said the fight has just started.
  "We have met with the relevant authorities to try and solve the matter, but nothing is concrete yet. We are waiting to meet thje Sports Minister and hopefully he will have a solution on how to save the Kinrara Oval," said Iqbal.
  Former Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin had tweeted recently: "Please help @SyedSaddiq. I wrote to PNB as the land owner of the Oval to keep the grounds. One of my last few letters at KBS (Ministry of Sports). Also spoke to then Chairman. Hope you can follow up. Public funds used to upgrade for @KL2017. Now to be shut down and taken away."
  Syed Saddiq had replied: "We already filed our objection before. Met up with the reps as well. This iconic ground must be defended. 
Hopefully the new Chairman will hear our plight."
  The new PNB chairman is Former Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz.
  Yesterday a group made up of residents around the Oval as well as young cricketers held a protest at the Oval by holding plycards. Some of them read 'Save Kinrara Oval' and 'Don't Kill The Game'.
  Iqbal said if the ground is snatched away, it will damage the future plans of MCA to make cricket a popular sport.
  "Around the globe, cricket is No 2 on viewership, and in Malaysia it is a strong team-sport and ranked world no 27 and we play in Division Four. If we lose the Oval, it will not help in our cause to make it a better team sport in Malaysia.
  "We are still working to stop the eviction order, and hopefully the Sports Minister can spare some time to meet us (MCA)," said Iqbal.

Same script, different venue...

By Jugjet Singh

September 19, 2018 @ 7:01pm

Argentina 2 Australia 0
Malaysia 3 Japan 3

KUALA LUMPUR: It was encore at the in the Darwin Interantional at the Marrara Hockey Stadium in Australia Wednesday, when Malaysia took a 3-1 lead but ended up sharing points with Japan at 3-3.
  It was a repeat performance from World No 12 Malaysia against No 16 Japan, who were down 2-5 in the Asian Games final in Jakarta, but equalised at 6-6 and then handed Malaysia a painful 3-1 defeat in the shoot-out to deny  a historic Asian Games gold and an Olympic ticket which came with it.
  This performance came at the back of a 5-2 drubbing in the hands of Australia, and coach Amin Rahim's men will have a day's rest before playing World No 2 Argentina.
  However, this time around Malaysia had rested six regulars and injected with experienced reserves, while Japan also fielded six players who earned their first caps in darwin.
  Kazuma Murata  handed Japan an 11th minute leas, but Malaysia raced ahead with goals from Razie Rahim (15th, 21st) and Fitri Shaari (27th).
  But Seran Tanaka  (45th) and  Shota Yamada (59th) fought back the equalsier.
  Japan had lost 2-1 to Argentina, and will play Australia next.
  "Yes, it's very disappointing as both the draws (Asian Games and now Darwin) were played out with the same script. The match changed when Razie (Rahim) received a yellow card late in the third quarter and carried forward in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter.
  "Japan took this opportunity to penalise us," said Amin who is helming the national team for the first time.
  When asked about Japan's six rookies: "We also have six fringe players, but then again, those who had played in the Asian Games should have covered them but it did not happen," said Amin.

AHF request FIH to consider Asian Games silver medallists for Tokyo Olympics -- OCM endorses

By Jugjet Singh

September 18, 2018 @ 8:00pm

KUALA LUMPUR: The Asian Hockey Confederation (AHF) have written to the International Hockey Federation (FIH) a strong recommendation letter to include both the men's and women's silver medallists at the Asian Games into the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
  The men's silver medallists were Malaysia, while India finished second in the women's event. Both the gold medals were won by Japan, who had already qualified as hosts.
  AHF CEO Datuk Tayyab Ikram wrote to FIH CEO Thierry Weil on Sept 10 to reconsider the tournament rules which only allowed the winners to automatically advance to the Olympics.
  And at the Olympic Council of Malaysia Board Meeting yesterday, president Datuk Sri Norza Zakaria welcomed and endorsed the AHF move.
  Tayyab explained his rationale in the letter to FIH: "While I do understand the FIH criteria, I would want to put forward a request for an important review of the qualification criteria due to the fact that the host of the Olympic Games this time comes from Asia.
  "We do feel a need to reconsider the criteria as there are several high-performing teams of Olympic standard with almost no performance gaps, whose inclusion in the Tokyo Olympic Games via the Asian Games would prove to be justifiable and meriting.
  "Therefore, we would like the FIH to consider the inclusion of the silver medallist for both Men’s and women’s categories of the Asian Games in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, in addition to Japan’s automatic qualification as the host country."
  Among others Tayyab also wrote in the letter: "Consequently, if both, Malaysia men and India women teams are considered to secure their slots for Tokyo 2020, this would prove to be a meritocratic step, as these countries represent two of the largest fan-bases for Hockey in Asia.
  "This will have favorable implications towards the universality criteria, as well as, a well-deserved advantage to the host continent where the Olympics are being held, without compromising on the performance criteria and the set Olympic standards."
  Malaysia were leading 5-2, before allowing Japan to claw back at 6-6 and then lose 3-1 in the shoot-out. India women were edged 2-1 by Japan.
   "I believe the tournament rules are not carved on stone, and so, we will endorse and support the AFH letter to FIH in whatever way we can," said NOrza.
  Also at the Board meeting, it was decided that for future multi-Games under the OCM, they will have a selection panel ahead of the actual selection.
  "Since there were so many problems with the selection of athletes for the Jakarta Asian Games, the OCM Board has endorsed a three-man panel to do the initial selection before we endorse the athletes.
  "We have suggested Datuk M. Jegathesan (sprints legend), Datuk Mazlan Ahmad (former National Sports Council director general) and Datuk Dr Ramlan Abdul Aziz (National Sports Institute CEO) to form the selection panel and their work is expected to begin before the 2019 Manila Sea Games," said Norza.
  Meanwhile, OCM also decided yesterday that badminton player Goh Jin Wei will be the flag-bearer at the Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires on Oct 6-18.

Darwin: Malaysia 2 Australia 1

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia lost 5-2 to World No 1 Australia in the Darwin International at the Marrara Hockey Stadium in Australia Tuesday.
  In another match, world No 2 Argentina beat Japan 2-1.
  The Malaysian goals were scored by Haziq Samsul (18th) and Firhan Azhaari (54th), while Australia got their goals off Dylan Wotherspoon (eighth), Tom Craig (11th), Jacob Anderson (32nd), Jack Welch (34th) and Tim Brand (60th).
  The Wednesday's match against Japan would be interesting, as the Asian Games champions beat Malaysia in a shoot-out recently in Jakarta.
  Malaysia took a 5-2 lead, but Japan equalised at 6-6 and then handed Malaysia a painful defeat in the shoot-out to deny  a historic Asian Games gold and an Olympic ticket which came with it.
  "Overall we played well and I need to emphasise that we played the best team in the world today (yesterday).
  "We had chances to score more than two goals but could not find the final touch.
  "I am happy with the way all my charges played, but they can do better and we will learn and work on that.
  "The next match is against Japan, and even though we did not bring our best players here, they know that losing twice in a row is not an option, for, it's redemption time," said Malaysian coach Amin Rahim.