Sweet 16 for Razak Cup

A RECORD 16 teams will compete in the Razak Cup which will be held at two venues in Kuala Lumpur from Aug 13- 20.
Seven teams will be in Division One, while nine teams in two groups in Division Two. The tournament will be held at the Kuala Lumpur HA Stadium, as well as the Tun Razak Stadium.
The foreign teams Singapore and Brunei will play in Division Two, while Project 2013 will compete with the big boys in Division One.
“This is the largest number of teams to have registered for the Razak Cup in recent times, and we had to break Division Two into two groups to accommodate the fixtures,” said Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) secretary Hashim Yu soff.
The tournament, especially Division One, is expected to be competitive, because the national players are on a Tour of Australia and then New Zealand and will only return after the Razak Cup ends.
Negri Sembilan, the runners-up last year, will hold trials to select their players on Sunday at 6.30pm at the Seremban II Stadium. For details, call S. Chandran at 016-3157113 or NSHA secretary Tamil Selvam at 019-3650303.
For the record, Kuala Lumpur won their 17th Razak Cup title with a convincing 5-0 thumping of Negri Sembilan last year, while in Division Two, Penang upset Selangor 3-2 for the title.
DIVISION ONE: Kuala Lumpur, Negri Sembilan, Perak, Malacca, Johor, Penang, Project 2013.
DIVISION TWO: Selangor, Perlis, Singapore, Police, Ke lantan, Kedah, Pahang, Sabah, Brunei.

Malacca KOed by H1N1

MALACCA High School withdrew from the Champion Schools hockey tournament yesterday, after their school was shut for one week because of the H1N1 fever.
The Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) redrew the fix tures, and now 10 teams will play in two groups from today at the Kuala Lumpur HA Stadium..
“We received the news today (yesterday) that the school has been ordered to close for one week because some students were found to have symptoms of the H1N1 influenza.
“It is unfortunate, but it is better the hockey players also remain in quarantine at home in Malacca,” said MHF secretary Hashim Yusoff.
Hamzah Machang of Kelantan, the defending champions,
will open accounts against Mutiara Impian of Penang today.
GROUP A: SMK Hamzah Machang (Kel), SMK Mutiara Inpian (Penang), SMK Pertukangan Perantis (Armed Forces), Tunku Besar Secondary School (Negri), Seberang Temerloh (Pah).
GROUP B: Sultan Abu Bakar College (Johor), Khir Johari (Kedah), Anderson (Perak), St John (KL), Seksyen II, Shah Alam (Sel).
TODAY: Hamzah Machang (Kel) v Mutiara Impian (Pg) 7.30am, Tunku Besar Tampin (NS) v Pertukangan Perantis (Forces) 9.30am, Sultan Abu Bakar (Joh) v Anderson (Pk) 3.30pm, St John (KL) v Khir Johari (Ked) 5.30pm.
TOMORROW: Seksyen II, Shah Alam (Sel) v Sultan Abu Bakar (Joh) 7.30am, Khir Johari (Ked) v Anderson (Pk) 9.30am, Seberang Temerloh (Pah) v Hamzah Machang (Kel) 3.30pm, Mutiara Impian (Pg) v Pertukangan Perantis (Forces) 5.30pm.

SMK Hamzah attempt for hat-trick

SMK Hamzah Machang, Kelantan, will be out for their third Champion Schools title when the tournament starts at the Kuala Lumpur HA Stadium tomorrow.
Kelantan first won the coveted schools crown in 1999, and then after an eight-year wait, in 2007, when they beat Johor's Sultan Abu Bakar College 5-3.
And Anderson of Ipoh are the bronze medallists, after they beat Penang Free School 3-2.
Eleven schools, including Armed Forces apprentice school, have confirmed for the tournament, which will pit state champions to decide which state has the best schools de velopment programme.
“Perlis, Terengganu, Sabah and Sarawak are the ab sentees, with logistics their main problem,” said Malaysian Hockey Federation secretary Hashim Yusoff.
GROUP A: SMK Hamzah Machang (Kel), SMK Mutiara Inpian (Penang), SMK Pertukangan Perantis (Armed Forces), Malacca High School (Malacca), Tunku Besar Secondary School (Negri).
GROUP B: Sultan Abu Bakar College (Johor), Khir Johari (Kedah), Anderson (Perak), St John (KL), Seberang Temerloh (Pah), Seksyen II, Shah Alam (Sel).
TOMORROW: Sultan Abu Bakar (Joh) v Seksyen II, Shah Alam (Sel) 7.30am, Anderson (Pk), v Seberang Temerloh (Pah) 9am, Pertukangan Perantis (Forces) v Tunku Besar Tampin (Negri) 3pm, Mutiara Impian (Pg) v Malacca High School (Mal) 5pm, Khir Johari (Ked) v St John (KL) 7pm.
SUNDAY: Mutiara Impian (Pg) v Tunku Besar Tampin (Negri) 7.30am, Hamzah Machang (Kel) v Malacca High School (Mal) 9am, Seksyen II, Shah Alam (Sel) v Khir Johari (Ked) 3pm, Anderson (Pk) v St John (KL) 5pm, Sultan Abu Bakar (Joh) v SMK Seberang Temerloh (Pah) 7pm.

Another defeat Down Under

MALAYSIA lost 2-0 to Australia ‘A’ in the Four-Nation in Canberra yesterday.
Australia ‘A’ are a development team, and Brent Dancer (27th) and Glenn Turner (49th) did the damage against Malaysia.
The National team suffered a humiliating 11-3 drubbing in the hands of Kookaburras, former Olympic champions, in the first match.
However, the Kookaburras only beat Canada 4-0 yesterday with goals from Des Abbott (29th), Robbie Hammond (35th), Grant Schubert (48th) and Eli Matheson (53rd).
Malaysia and Canada square off tomorrow. Australia A’s matches do not carry points, and Malaysia need to beat Canada for another rematch with the mighty Kookaburras.
Tomorrow: Canada v Malaysia; Kookaburras v Australia A.

A bunch of clowns

29/07/2009

Kookaburras outclass Malaysia

Kookaburras 11 Malaysia 3 (9-1 half time) Goals Australia – Abbott 1m FG, Ciriello 5m PC, Dwyer 6m FG/ 34m FG, Knowles 17m PC, Ford 22m FG/ 33m FG, Orchard 24m/ FG 66m FG, Hammond 30m FG, Schubert 59m PS, Malaysia – Saari 15m FG, Mohamad Nor 52m FG, Hanafi 68m PC

The Kookaburras have made amends for their recent 1-0 shock loss to Malaysia, defeating them 11-3 tonight in Canberra. The best possible start was made by the Kookaburras, with prolific striker Des Abbott opening the goal scoring account only 30 seconds into the match. This was an ominous sign for Malaysia, with the Kookaburras showing no mercy and upcoming star Chris Ciriello extending the Kookaburras lead from a penalty corner only minutes later. When two time world player of the year Jamie Dwyer scored immediately after, the game appeared almost over with over 70 minutes of play still remaining, the Kookaburras simply outclassing the visitors. This was reinforced throughout the first half, with Mark Knowles, Simon Orchard and Rob Hammond scoring goals while Dwyer added his second just prior to half time, with Russell Ford also scoring two first half goals to set up a 9-1 half time lead. In complete contrast to the fast paced first half, the goal-fest didn’t quite continue after half time, with the first goal not coming until the 52 minute mark, going to Malaysia. Despite having the game already won the Kookaburras continued to work hard, with striker Grant Schubert scoring at the 59 minute mark while Orchard scored his second goal at the 66 minute mark. Despite conceding a late goal with only two minutes remaining, nothing could dampen the performance of the Kookaburras as they prepare for their next game against Canada tomorrow evening in Canberra.