Good rest for THT and KLHC

THE Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) TNB Cup quarter-finals balloting was done yesterday, with Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club (KLHC) and Terengganu Hockey Team (THT) receiving a 10-day rest.
  League champions THT and runners-up KLHC received a bye into the semi-finals, while third-paced Sapura drew UniKL in the last eight.
  The other quarter-finals will be between Tenaga Nasional and Maybank.
  The two-leg quarter-finals will be held on Sept 11 and 13, while the semi-finals, also two-legs, will be on Sept 15 and 17.
  All the matches will be held at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil, and telecast live.
  THT will either play Tenaga or Maybank in the semis, while KLHC await the winners of the Sapura-UniKL match.
  Sarjit Singh, who coached THT to their first double last season and is heading for another this season, said the standard of teams is almost the same and he has no preference in the semis.
  "Tenaga and Maybank gave us tough times in the League and so I have no preffered side to play against in the semis. Our mission is to win the double again, and that means beating any team that comes our way," said Sarjit.
  Going by form-book, it looks like THT and KLHC will meet again in the TNB Cup final. In the League encounters, KLHC won 6-2 but were beaten 5-4 in the return leg.
  THT are already big winners, over the RM70,000 which came with the title, the players and and officials also received a bonus of RM10,000 from the state government.
  And and Menteri Besar Datuk Ahmad Razif has already pledged to refurbish the Batu Buruk as well as the Gong Badak artificial pitches and spruce up the stadiums.
  There is more, THT will fly off to London then Amsterdam to play two friendly matches against club sides on Sept 29 -- a reward for becoming double champions last season.