MHF did well to include ESA players

19/03/2001

MALAYSIAN Juniors fared badly at the Prime Minister's Gold Cup in Dhaka,but back home the Malaysia Hockey Federation (MHF) won a Gold Cup, handsdown, when they accommodated players from Electrical SwitchgerasAutomation in the Junior League. There was some micommunication between MHF secretary S. Satgunam and ESAManager S. Sanjilatheeban which almost led to 18 boys being put on ice forthe 2001 Malaysia Junior Hockey League, but the MHF Standing Committee, intheir second sitting, decided to give the boys a new lease of life, and anew outfit too. ESA players will now play as Seberang Prai Municipal Council and all iswell for junior development in the country. But the national juniors, with the World Cup in Hobart their end target,started on a bad note at the Gold Cup. In the first match they lost to Egypt 2-4, then went a notch lower whenIreland beat them 1-0. They salvaged some pride when they beat China 1-0 but by then it was toolate for a good finish in the tournament. Pakistan hammered the last nailin the coffin with a 3-1 win. So what went wrong? Coach Yahya Atan and Stephen van Huizen said they are trying out newplayers and new positions for some and that was the main reason they faredbadly in the first two matches. And since this is part of their preparation for the road to Hobart, itis better to lose now and find out where the chinks are in the outfit toprepare a formidable team for the Junior World Cup because next year theboys, some of whom are regulars in the senior side, will have three majortournaments to deal with - the World Cup in Kuala Lumpur, the CommonwealthGames in Manchester, England and the Asian Games in Pusan, Korea. Hopefully the excuses of today will form a gold winning team of tomorrowbecause the rest of the world are moving further ahead. Japan were not a last four contender when the Dhaka Gold Cup started,but then made the elite company of India and Pakistan in the semifinals. They scored a 1-0 win over Scotland and sounded a warning that they arenot finished yet. After failing to qualify for the Olympics in OlympicsQualifier in Osaka more than a year ago, many left Japanese hockey fordead. In the semis, India hammered Egypt 8-0 and Pakistan beat Japan 5-3. The Prime Minister's Gold Cup slipped out of our grasp because an S.Kuhan-inspired junior side only found that zest they were so lacking inprevious matches aginst China. Let's hope they keep up the momentum and coupled with MHF's zest towardsjunior developent, cram Malaysia's cabinet with Gold Cups. jugjet@nstp.com.my