Kuhan: Limit foreigners

S. KUHAN started playing in the Malaysia Hockey League in 1992 when he was a 16-year-old, and knows the tournament like the back of his hands.

He tasted the glory of becoming double champions with his first ever team Yayasan Negri Sembilan in 1994 and 1995, and then moved to Petaling Jaya Municipal Council, Bank Simpanan Nasional and finally Sapura in 2000 up till now.

"I have been involved with the MHL since my school days, and practically spent half my life playing in it. It is difficult to compare the standard of play over the 15 years as there have been too many changes in rules over the years. The sport is no longer the same as when I first started playing it," said Kuhan when asked on his opinion on the progress of the MHL.

However, the former Malaysian captain lamented on two matters which are a bit of a concern.

"The crowd used to be much better back then, especially when Armed Forces were playing as truck loads of supporters were brought in to make it more interesting.

"Today, there are some venues which attract only small crowds, and it only gets better from the semi-finals onwards when stadiums are filled to the brim.

"The other matter is on the infusion of foreign players. Personally, I feel that there should be a cap on the number of foreigners which a team can sign up.

"Having foreigners, especially big names in hockey, is a crowd puller but too many of them in one team deprives our local players of an opportunity to play.

"I believe, maybe five foreigners is a good cap, and the locals can also learn from them like YNS players did back then when the best India players were hired to make it more exciting," said Kuhan.

India skipper Pargat Singh, Jude Felix and Mukesh Kumar were the foreign stars in YNS, while the local big names were former skipper Sarjit Singh, Soon Mustapha, Gurmit Singh and current national coaching coordinator Stephen van Huizen.

YNS made a comeback to the League after an absence of 15 years but more than 50 percent of their team are foreign players.

On how the MHL could be further improved, Kuhan said: "I feel the MHL is well run, and many of our juniors from Project 2013 have benefited from playing in it.

"However, the fixtures need to be improved as the 3.30pm and 4pm matches serve no purpose. Firstly, the crowd are not there, and secondly, it is just too hot to play at that hour and the quality drops drastically," said Kuhan.

YNS brace for KLHC test

YNS’ Shakeel Abbasi (centre) vies with UniKL’s Mohd Razali Zulkipli in their first leg quarter-final match last Friday. YNS won 4-2.

By Ajitpal Singh

YAYASAN Negri Sembilan (YNS) are under no illusion about the kind of challenge Premier Division champions Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club (KLHC) will pose in the semi-finals of the Malaysian Hockey League.

YNS are bidding for their first overall title since 1996 and on returning to the league after 11 years, the club, with 11 foreign players mostly from India and Pakistan, are determined to upset the form book but may find KLHC too hot to handle.

The Negri Sembilan-based club were not expected to progress far in the knock-out stage after their erratic show in the Premier Division. But they managed to get into their groove in the quarter-finals and beat UniKL 9-5 on aggregate.

"We are glad we won convincingly as confidence is really important at this stage of the tournament. My hope is that my charges continue to play good hockey in the semi-finals," said YNS coach Hasnizam Ah Sim yesterday.

KLHC, however, are also entering the semi-finals on a high after a massive 26-3 aggregate win over Bandar Penawar Sports School (BPSS).

YNS and KLHC, who have seven national players from the Asian Games silver medal side, have met twice in the league with the latter winning both encounters convincingly (6-3 and 7-2).

"We must forget about past results. They may have beaten us twice in the league but it does not matter to us," added Hasnizam.

"We are a better prepared team for the semi-finals. It is also important we learn from past mistakes ahead of the clash." Sapura will be gunning for revenge when they face defending champions Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) in the other semi-final.

TNB, also this season's Charity Shield winners, edged Sapura on penalty strokes to lift the overall title last year.

It is expected to be an exciting clash as both teams are fired-up after their quarter-final wins.

TNB thrashed Armed Forces Juniors 11-4 on aggregate without the injured Amin Rahim but the drag flick specialist is expected to return for the semi-final.

Sapura, led by S. Kuhan and Pakistan international Rehan Butt, also boosted their confidence by overcoming Maybank 8-1 on aggregate.

YNS set date with champs KLHC

Maybank’s Mohammad Faisal Kamarudin (right) tries to get past Sapura’s Mohd Fadzli Anuar in their quarter-final match yesterday. — Picture by Mohd Yusni Ariffin

By Ajitpal Singh

YAYASAN Negri Sembilan (YNS) will face Premier Division champions Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club (KLHC) in the semi-finals of the Malaysian Hockey League (MHL) after a nerve-wrecking quarter-final second leg win over UniKL at the Tun Razak Stadium yesterday.

YNS had to work hard before defeating UniKL 5-3 to complete a 9-5 aggregate victory while KLHC brushed aside Bandar Penawar Sports School (BPSS) 15-3 for a 26-3 aggregate win.

UniKL had a great start to overturn their 4-2 first leg defeat when Ramadan Rosli sounded the board after six minutes.

But their joy was short-lived when Deepak Thakur drew level for YNS two minutes later. And against the run of play YNS skipper Shakeel Abbasi scored from a field attempt in the 28th minute.

Vivek Gupta (42nd) and Prabhjot Singh (44th) made it 4-1 before Deepak added his second of the match in the 49th minute.

Ramadhan got his second goal in the 58th minute to make it 5-2 before skipper S. Selavarju scored seven minutes from time to reduce the deficit to 5-3.

"We knew we could win this match even when UniKL scored the first goal of the match.

"My players played to instruction and kept their cool until the final whistle. This victory will definitely raise our confidence ahead of our semi-final clash against KLHC," said YNS coach Hasnizam Ah Sim at the Tun Razak Stadium yesterday.

KLHC's massive victory over BPSS, however, does not reflect well for the sports school, who had nine guest players in their squad.

The Kuala Lumpur-side were 8-1 up in the opening 35 minutes before adding seven goals in the second half for the overwhelming victory.

The other semi-final will pit defending champions Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) against Sapura.

TNB came back from the brink of defeat to beat Division One champions Armed Forces Juniors 5-4 yesterday to complete a 11-4 aggregate.

Armed Forces took a 4-2 lead at half-time before TNB scored their last three goals in the final 13 minutes of the match.

TNB goals came from M. Kaliswaran (seventh), Mahinder Singh (20th), Faizal Saari (57th and 62nd) and Muhd Azammi Adabi (69th).

The Forces side replied through Razali Hazemi (fifth) and Szuhairi Abd Aziz (28th and 32nd).

In another match, Lim Woo Geun scored a brace to help Sapura notch a 5-1 victory over Maybank to complete an 8-1 aggregate victory.

The South Korean defender sounded the board in the 21st and 53rd minutes. Izwan Firdaus (ninth), S. Kuhan (26th) and Mohd Rodhanizam Mat Radzi (57th) netted the other goals.

Maybank replied through Hairul Nizam Abdul Rahim's penalty corner set-piece in the 35th minute.

YNS edge UniKL in thriller

NS players celebrate after scoring their second goal against UniKL in the first leg quarter-final match yesterday. YNS won 4-2. — Picture by Hazreen Mohamad

By Ajitpal Singh

YAYASAN Negri Sembilan (YNS) turned on a splendid display to edge UniKL 4-2 in an exciting quarter-final first leg encounter of the Malaysian Hockey League at the Tun Razak Stadium yesterday.

UniKL were to blame for their defeat as they were hardly in the game in the opening 20 minutes and despite earning four penalty corners in the match, they could only score once from it.

However, credit to YNS goalkeeper Mohd Harfizi Baharom for his exceptional display to deny UniKL on several occasions.

Arvind opened accounts for YNS in the 16th minute before Deepak Thakur increased their tally in the 24th minute.

UniKL then woke up from their sleep and quickly reduced the deficit through Richard Patherick's penalty corner set-piece in the 33rd minute.

But all hopes of a comeback ended when YNS were awarded a penalty stroke when YNS' Mohd Zulhairi Hashim committed a foul on Deepak in the 39th minute.

Skipper Shakeel Abbasi made no mistake from the spot, putting the ball in the low left hand corner to give UniKL keeper Stephen Graham no chance before Deepak added YNS' fourth in the 69th minute.

But Phillip Stahr scored seconds before the hooter to reduce the deficit and perhaps give UniKL a fighting chance to overturn the deficit in the second leg tomorrow.

"It is always good to win the first leg and go into the second with a two-goal advantage. But it will not make us complacent as there is still plenty of hockey left to be played," said YNS advisor K. Rajan at the Tun Razak Stadium yesterday.

UniKL coach Darren Smith, who was disappointed with the defeat, said his team produced one of their poorest performances yesterday.

"We did not play to our standards and the players are aware of that. But credit to YNS for their clinical finishing and we were fortunate that we got the second goal.

"We are two goals down but it gives us a fighting chance nonetheless in the second leg," said Smith.

In an earlier match, Premier Division champions Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club went on a rampage with an effortless 11-2 victory over Bandar Penawar Sports School (BPSS).

Razie Rahim took his tally to 24 goals in the tournament with a hattrick in the 18th, 29th and 70th minutes - all through penalty corner executions while Muhammad Ammerullah scored a brace in the 19th and 53rd minutes.

Other goals were from Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin (fifth) Baljit Singh (seventh), Chua Boon Huat (34th), Ismail Abu (42nd), Mohd Noor Faez (65th), and Harvinder Singh (53rd). With the huge win, the second leg tomorrow is just a mere formality.

Meanwhile, defending champions Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) defeated Division One champions Armed Forces Juniors 6-0 at the KLHA Stadium.

Firhan Ashaari scored TNB's opening goal after 10 minutes before Faisal Saari added their second in the 28th minute.

In the second half, TNB increased their tempo and scored four more goals through Mahinder Singh (43rd and 60th), Faiz Helmi (46th) and Firhan (69th)

New Straits Times

Najib to sign Aussie deal on sports development

By Datuk Syed Nadzri

(Group Editor of New Straits Times)

PRIME Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak arrives in Canberra tonight for a series of high-profile meetings and gatherings, reciprocating his Australian counterpart's Kuala Lumpur stay last year.

The three-day visit will see Najib both in Canberra and in Melbourne and includes the ratification of a memorandum of understanding on sports development, which takes place tomorrow after a bilateral meeting.

Among the areas of collaboration being sought from Australia, which has an excellent sport culture, are:

- training and friendly matches for Malaysian athletes in Australia for hockey (men and women), football, swimming, cycling and athletics;

- coaching expertise to train our athletes in hockey, swimming, cycling and athletics;

- technical expertise in medical and sports science;

- continuing with the training of Malaysian national cyclists in Melbourne under the supervision of coach John Beasly; and,

- continuing with the training of aquatics elite athletes under Paul Thomas Birmingham in Kuala Lumpur.

Najib, accompanied by his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, Foreign Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman, Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Khaled Nordin and Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek, will be accorded a formal welcome at Sydney's Parliament House tomorrow.

He and Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard will then begin bilateral talks and hold a joint press conference.