Razak Cup: Dharmaraj welcomes Singapore heat

By Jugjet Singh

October 22, 2018 @ 3:07pm

KUALA LUMPUR: National women's coach K. Dharmaraj welcomes the return of Singapore in the Razak Cup as he believes his trainees will benefit from playing against committed opponents.

  The Razak Cup will be held on Oct 26-Nov 3, with both the men's and women's events held at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil.

  Singapore men will play in Division Two, while their women in Group A.

  Last year Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia played in the men's Division Two, while only Indonesia were the foreign team in the women's event.

  This year, the men's event will not have national players who are in Oman for the Asian Champions Trophy as well as preparing for the World Cup in November, while the women's event will have national players to make it more competitive.

  Speaking about the women, Dharmaraj believes Razak Cup and then the national league next year should have more foreign players to raise the standard of his charges.

  "I welcome the Singapore national team to give our players a healthy competition in the Razak Cup. We need to play regularly with players from other countries to become stronger.

  "National players will compete in the Razak Cup, aside from the eight engaged in Europe leagues right now and those who will be sitting for their SPM examinations.

  "The rest return to their states and I hope Singapore gives every state a good fight to raise the standard of women's hockey in the country," said Dharmaraj.

  As for the men's event, last season's semi-finalists Negri Sembilan wants to break their jinx and win the tournament.

  Negri manager S. Chandran said: "With national players out of the Razak Cup, every state will have an equal chance to win the title and we hope to lay our hands on it after being bundled out of the semi-finals last year."

  Negri will field eight Malaysia Games players while the rest are former club or national palyers.

  Last year in the semi-finals, Terengganu beat Negri Sembilan 2-1 while Perak beat Malacca 2-1 in shoot-out after the match ended 0-0.

  Perak beat Terengganu 3-2 for the men's title while Selangor beat Pahang 5-2 for the women's crown.   

 Men -- Division One: Group A: Kuala Lumpur, Perak, Negri Sebilnan, Perlis; Group B: Malacca, Penang, Johor, Terengganu.

  Division Two: Pahang, Armed Forces, Kelantan, Selangor, Kedah, Police, Singapore.

   Women -- Group A: Kuala Lumpur, Malacca, Selangor, Police, Singapore.

  Group B: Penang, Pahang, Armed Forces, Terengganu.

Asian Champions Trophy: Korea test next...

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia will play South Korea Next in the Asian Champions Trophy Monday night, and coach Roelant Oltmans' team should come out tops.
  Malaysia has beaten Japan 3-0 and Oman 3-1 so far, while South Korea have lost both their matches to Pakistan (3-1) and Japan (2-0).
  Even though Malaysia were not impressive against Oman, but newly appointed coach Oltmans seems to have made the team tactically stronger and the South Korea match will be a yardstick to conform this.
  India, who had beaten Oman (11-0) and Pakistan (3-1) look to be the strongest team in the tournament and should make a final appearance.
  After South Korea, Malaysia will be tested by India followed by Pakistan.
  

         P W D  L GD Pts
India 2 2 0 0 13  6
Malaysia 2 2 0 0 5   6
Pakistan 2 1 0 1 0   3
Japan 2 1 0 1 -1  3
Korea 2 0 0 2 -4  0
Oman 2 0 0 2 -13 0

Asian Champions Trophy: Malaysia 3 Oman 1

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia took the scenic route before beating Oman 3-1 in the Asian Champions Trophy in Muscat on Saturday.
  The win came at the back of a 3-0 victory over Japan, and Malaysia next play South Korea on Oct 22.
  In another match Saturday, Pakistan beat South Korea 3-0.
  For the record, India had beaten Oman 11-0 in their curtain raiser.
  Firhan Ashaari scored for Malaysia in the 26th minute but Ashad Al Fazari equalised in the 34th minute to off a penalty stroke.
  However, goals from Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin (46th) and Faizal Shaari (48th) gave Malaysia full points.

Asian Champions Trophy: Malaysia 3 Japan 0

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia started their Oman Asian Champions Trophy (ACT) in Muscat with a 3-0 win against Asian Games champions Japan Friday.
  However, even though Malaysia extracted sweet revenge in Oman, Japan had beaten Malaysia in shoot-out to win the more important Asian Games gold medal in Jakarta.
  Japan fielded five new players, and Malaysia had also rested a few players including penalty corner flicker Razie Rahim for the ACT.
  And in Razie's absence, Faizal Shaari converted a penalty corner goal in the third minute and seasoned striker Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin made it 2-0 by the 9th minute off a penalty corner deflection.
  Faizal scored the third goal in the 51st minute off a penalty stroke. 
  No 1 goalkeeeper S. Kumar was rested, as he did complain about muscle pain in his right thumb but was still included for the ACT. Hairi Rahman kept goal in the opening match instead.
  Malaysia next play Oman.

1975 World Cup: Vampire with India players signatures...

By Jugjet Singh

OCTOBER 18, 2018 @ 5:45pm

NOTE: 11/05/08 FLASHBACK: Since India will be hosting the World Cup in Bhubaneswar from 28 Nov to 16 Dec. Good luck India. 
  Stick was bought during 2008 Azlan Shah Cup in Ipoh.

A WALK around Ipoh's famous Old Town flea-market yesterday (11/05/08) turned into a real bargain, when a special edition Kuala Lumpur 1975 World Cup hockey stick was found among the antiques on display.
  The Vampire stick, manufactured specially after India beat Pakistan 2-1 at the Stadium Merdeka, was lying among old records, rusty coins and old currency notes.
  It looked like any old hockey stick, and I almost moved along, but something prompted me to pick it up and have a closer look.
  And 'WoW! The stick was a special edition designed a year after the KL World Cup, and it had the signatures of all the Indian players on it.
  I asked the vendor: "How much? And since it was a noisy bazaar filled mostly with migrant workers from Bangladesh, Myanmar and India, the vendor indicated by holding out his palms showing eight fingers.
  At first I thought he was saying RM80, but a scribe who was with me said: "Bargain, it can be bought for RM5." And the vendor came closer and I asked him again: "Berapa? (How much).
  And when he said: RM8, I couldn't believe my ears, and quickly took out my wallet, but my friend bargained with the vendor, and we walked away only paying RM5 for a stick which is about 31-years-old (now 43).
  A real bargain, considering it was still in good condition.