Friday, May 10, 2013

Under-16 dispute..

KUALAR Lumpur HA secretary V. Rajamanikam yesterday blasted the Under-16 selection for Mannheim, Germany, by calling it biased.
  The Four-Nation will be held on May 18-20, and Malaysia will be up against Belgium, Netherlands and Germany.
  "KL were the National Under-16 champions for five consecutive years before losing out in the semi-finals (2-1 to Malacca) this season. A big number of our players have been playing together since they were under-14 and had won the Under-16 title for KL in previous years.
  "That is why I am calling the Mannheim selection biased, as only one KL player was selected for the squad of 18," said Rajamanikam.
  The selected KL player is goalkeeper Suhayl Ainol Azmi.
  However, coach S. Prakash defended his selection, by saying that it was based on merit.
  "A panel of coaches selected the players based on friendly matches and also fitness, and there was no bias towards any state.
  "We had a short time to assemble the side, so the number one criteria was fitness and that is why some of the players did not make the grade," said Prakash, who is also the Bukit Jalil Sports School coach.
  In the National Under-16 Perak lifted the title.