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.

Former goalkeeper Nasihin to coach women

PIC: Nasihin Nubli (in blue) will coach the women's team.

FORMER national goalkeeper Nasihin Nubli has been named the chief coach of the national women's senior team, replacing Yahya Atan, who has been promoted to high performance director.

Prior to this appointment, Nasihin had been assisting Yahya since 2007.

Malaysian Women's Hockey Association (MWHA) secretary S. Shamala said Yahya will be in charge of both the national development and the 1MAS programmes.

"Yahya's experience is needed to ensure that the many tiers of national teams are formed and developed for the future," said Shamala yesterday.

"His first assignment will be to mould a national under-21 team for next year's Junior World Cup Qualifiers.

" The association will also work together with the Education Ministry to ensure our grassroot programmes take off well."

Nasihin's first task as the national coach will be the Champions Challenge 2, scheduled for Vienna on May 7-15. Malaysia are drawn in Group B with Belgium, Russia and Belarus while Group A comprises Chile, Canada, Italy and Austria.

Shamala believes the team, who have been in centralised training since last month, are good for the semi-finals.

"The association has arranged friendly matches with clubs from Japan and also national teams from Europe prior to the Champions Challenge 2," she added. -- AJITPAL SINGH

It all boils down to players

COMMENT
By Vijesh Rai

INCENTIVES have been announced, targets set and team officials finalised as the Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) eyes the 2012 London Olympics and the urgency is understandable for failure to qualify is not an option, not after having missed the last two Olympics.
Sydney 2000 was Malaysia's last appearance at the Olympics and MHF knows that not joining the world's best in London could well spell the end for the game in the country.
The players -- the main characters in the plot -- must understand this and vow to work hard and cut no corners for if they fail, they will go down in history as part of the reason why Malaysian hockey went from appearing at the highest of stages to disappearing completely.
This doesn't have to happen though for in winning silver at last year's Guangzhou Asian Games, the players proved that there is still hope for the sport but the challenge now is to translate this into brilliance.
It would have been a much easier task had MHF succeeded in securing the hosting of a Qualifier but it wasn't meant to be and the task now is to give undivided attention to sealing a place in London.
Malaysia are still in the dark as to which Qualifier they will play in -- Japan and India will host one each next year while the third has yet to be decided -- but that shouldn't be of concern for none will be easy.
MHF has done well in making early key decisions but that isn't enough for the players need to be pushed and playing in invitational tournaments and friendly matches alone won't be enough.
Sending the players abroad for playing stints with European clubs will help but what will really go a long way in making the task a little bit easier is for them to realise just how crucial it is for Malaysia to qualify for the Olympics.
Hockey is among the luckier sports for it isn't among those who have seen their funding from the National Sports Council reduced but this isn't necessarily a situation MHF will be in forever.
Other sports, including the hugely successful bowling, are having to cope with cuts and if hockey doesn't qualify for the Olympics, it will become increasingly hard for NSC to justify spending huge amounts on it.
More is set to be spent over the next year or so in the build-up to the Olympic Qualifier but the players have to account for the millions of Ringgit that have been budgeted for training, exposure and allowances for the Malaysian taxpayers expect returns on their investment.
MHF president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah is leading by example and the fact that he has pledged to also contribute to the incentives announced is proof that he is committed to the MHF cause.
Though there is still room for improvement in the MHF set-up, Tengku Abdullah has done well since assuming the presidency, which has also silenced his doubters who felt that his passion for football would be at the expense of hockey.
Tengku Abdullah has played a key role in trying to bring hockey back to the masses -- the 1Mas Project and the MHL being shown live on Astro being part of the plan to make the sport boom again.
It won't be easy though and the near empty stadiums in which the MHL matches have been played in are proof of that as fans will only return in droves if the national team are successful.
The footballers have shown that this is exactly the case and the Olympic side's qualifier against Pakistan drew a reasonable turnout only because fans have started to believe again after the Laos Sea Games and AFF Cup triumphs.
For their efforts, the footballers have been well rewarded, there is renewed interest in the game and more money has been pledged to ensure the FA of Malaysia continues to progress.
Tengku Abdullah is trying to do the same with MHF but all the good work and pledge of incentives will mean nothing if the national hockey team are not in London come August 2012.
What will be worse is if this results in even more declining interest in the sport.
Only the players can prevent this.