Ernst and Young out, MHL crippled

FLASHBACK: Ernst and Young players chairing their team manager George Koshy after winning the TNB-Malaysia Hockey League title at the TLDM Hockey Stadium in Lumut yesterday. – STARpic by SAIFUL BAHRI

ERNST and Young dropped a crippling bombshell on the Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) Premier Division when team manager George Koshy confirmed that they will not be fielding a team this season.
In fact, it looks like last year’s double champions Ernst and Young will now be remembered in the annals of history, as George said “Enough is enough.”
The outfit revolved from Andersen Sports Club in
2003, and has been the playground of national players for many years, but after a string of League titles in 2006, 2007 and 2008, they only nailed the double last year with the help of 12 national players, but that too on penalty strokes.
“I have made it known in the hockey circle that Ernst and Young will not be competing this season, as enough is enough,” said George.
There has been plenty of rumblings among the hockey fraternity that the club, which has a healthy budget, always monopolises national players, but George declined to com ment on that.
And among the problems that might arise is that many national players are in contract with Ernst and Young until the end of the year.
Will they be released to play for other clubs?
“I will not comment much on that issue (contract) other than say that a decision will be made after the World Cup Qualifiers in New Zealand.
“The priority for me now (George is also the national team manager) is to prepare a team for the Qualifier, and re alistically, we have as good a chance as any of the other five hopefuls to win gold.
“And what will happen to the Premier League if Malaysia qualifiers for the New Delhi World Cup? Will it still run from December 4 to the end of February when the World Cup is also in February?,” questioned George.
The Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) had said that they will be inviting six teams, including Ernst and Young, for the Premier League while Division One champions Airod Armed Forces and runners-up UiTM will join the tournament at the quarter-finals stage.
But with the top hockey club in the country pulling out, and the future of their contracted players hanging in the balance, the Premier League looks like it is heading for a disastrous outing months before the first whistle.

India finally grow up...

_{Published by: Sudhir Kumar}
^{Published: Sun, 20 Sep 2009 at 16:37 IST}

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Bhopal: The selection trials for the under-18 Men's Indian Hockey team for the Asia Cup, has re-started at the Regional Centre of the Sports Authority of India (SAI) here.
"The final selection trials re-started yesterday and will continue till this evening," under-18 Men's Indian Hockey team Chief Coach A K Bansal told PTI today.
He said that the selection was being done under the six member committee of Hockey India headed by former Indian Hockey team skipper Ajitpal Singh and includ hockey Olympian Jaffar Iqbal and former Indian Women's Hockey captain Madhu Yadav.
After 30 players - 10 in reserve are chosen, a 50-day camp will be put up for the team before it plays the Asia Cup Hockey Championship in Myanmar from November 14 to November 22, officials said.
In the first week of this month, the selection trial of the under-18 Men's team had got embroiled in a controversy and was deffered after 48 players out of the total of 53 picked up after initial selections trials were found overage in digital bone x-ray tests carried out on them.
Under the trials underway, the players have been asked to bring their digital bone x-ray tests, which are going to be cross-checked, a source close to the selectors said.

Project 2013 impress in Bangalore

THE Project 2013 boys returned from their Bangalore Tour on a winning note, as they not only won seven of their 11 matches, but also beat Bombay Gold Cup champions Army XI twice.
The boys, being groomed for the 2013 Junior World Cup, were only supposed to play six matches, but after they defeated the Army XI of Bangalore 2-1 the day after they arrived, teams in the district started to line up for matches with the Malaysians.
"Considering that the Army XI won the Bombay Gold Cup hockey tournament in April, my boys held on well to beat them twice. After that, many teams requested for matches with my team, and my boys put up a good show against the senior sides," said Project 2013 coach K. Dharmaraj.
Army XI beat Air India 1-0 to retain the 47th Bombay Gold Cup, and the outfit have 13 former national junior players.
Project won the first match 2-1, lost the second 5-2, lost the third 4-2 before winning again 4-2.
"I brought along 22 players for this training Tour, so after we won the first match, I gave all my players a chance to play in the second and third match, as I was not looking at results at this stage, but exposure."
The Project boys then lost to Sports Authority of India 3-1, before winning 5-1 in the return match against the Under-21 side.
In the other matches, the Project team beat Karnataka Army 3-1, Karnataka Police 4-1, Sports Authority of India diploma coaches 4-1 and Karnataka State team 5-1 before losing 3-2 in their final match against Karnataka State.
"I made many changes during the matches as many of my players were fasting. However, they displayed good understanding and stamina and are making good progress," said Dharmaraj.
The Project team are showing promise, as they won silver medal in the Razak Cup before heading for Bangalore, and will play in the South East Asia hockey tournament in Bangkok on Sept 29-Oct 5.
The Under-18 boys will play against senior teams from Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore in the tournament as the Sea Games hosts Laos do not have facilities for hockey.

Razak Cup rebranding begins

THE Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) website has an interesting take on the Razak Cup rebranding, which the second oldest hockey tournament in the country badly needs...

* Need to be re-branded
* Introduction of a New Trophy
* Inter-State based Concept?
* New Introduction:

1st round
5 groups consist of 4 teams for each group
Top 2 teams of each group will go to 2nd round

2nd round
Qualified teams will be divided into 2 brackets Each bracket consists of 5 teams
Top 2 teams of each bracket will go to 3rd round

3rd round
Semi-final - Qualified teams will go crossed match
1 or 2 legs semi-final

4th round
Final - Grand Final in Kuala Lumpur (suggested)

1Malaysia Buka Puasa

Malaysian hockey players at the Kuala Lumpur Hilton Hotel. Chua Boon Huat, S. Kumar, Kelvinder Singh and Harwinder Singh join their muslim team-mates for buka puasa (breaking of fast, in the month of Ramadhan).

NATIONAL hockey team manager George Koshy on Monday hosted his players and officials to a "buka puasa" at a leading hotel in Kuala Lumpur, true to the 1Malaysia concept.
The players are in training for the New Zealand World Cup Qualifier on Nov 7-15, and George felt that they deserve a reward for putting in long hours even during the fasting month.
"This is just a simple thank you gesture to the players and officials who have been working hard to make an impact on the Qualifier," said George.
The odds are stacked against the national team as only the gold medallists in the six-team Qualifier advances to the New Delhi World Cup.
The others in Malaysia's group are Austria, Wales, Scotland and China.