Project 2017, Labuan for Razak Cup

Malaysian Hockey Federation deputy president Nor Azmi Ahmad (right) and national corporate affairs manager of F&N Beverages Marketing Sdn Bhd Datuk Kamal Harun at the launch of the Razak Cup logo at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil yesterday. — Picture by Fariz Iswadi Ismail.

THE Project 2017 squad and Labuan are the two new teams competing in the 100PLUS Razak Cup which begins with the May 27-July 3 regional qualifiers.
The Project squad, under coach Lim Chiow Chuan, are the national Under-16 team. They have been placed in the Central Zone with defending champions Kuala Lumpur, Perak and Selangor.
Labuan are in the West Zone alongside Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei. This year's Borneo Cup standings will double up as qualifiers for the Razak Cup.
Unlike in previous years, the 49th edition of the Razak Cup will see teams battling it out in their respective zones and then in the final round where the 20 teams will be separated into two divisions.
The top two teams from each of the five zones will play in Division One with the others featuring in Division Two in the final round scheduled for July 21-30.
Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) deputy president Nur Azmi Ahmad said all 16 affiliates have confirmed their entries with the Project 2017 squad, Brunei, Singapore and Labuan playing as invited sides.
"Each team must also register five Under-21 players in their 25-man squad and at least two must play in every match. This is to ensure that teams do not compromise on developing their younger players," said Nur Azmi at the launch of the Razak Cup logo at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil yesterday.
"The Razak Cup has also been moved from Kuantan to Malacca. The hockey pitch in Kuantan is unavailable as it is being refurbished for next year's Malaysia Games.
"Teams will be placed in two groups in both divisions with the top two teams playing in a crossover semi-finals."
Nur Azmi said the new format will help promote the sport on a wider scale.
"The tournament needed a face lift with innovative ideas to sustain and maintain its position as the Premier National Championship in the country, and that's why we introduced a qualifying round this year," he said.
Nur Azmi confirmed teams would earn RM1,000 for every match they play in the regional qualifiers.
"As an incentive, we will also give a grant of RM5,000 to each team who qualify for Division One and RM3,000 for Division Two sides," Nur Azmi added.
Division One champions will receive RM10,000, runners-up RM7,000 and third place RM5,000.
Division Two champions will pocket RM5,000, runners-up RM3,000, third place RM2,000.
THE ZONES -- North: Perlis, Kedah, Penang, Armed Forces.
Central: Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Perak, Project 2017.
South: Johor, Negri Sembilan, Malacca, Singapore.
East: Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, Police.
West (Borneo Cup): Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei, Labuan.

TNB start planning for next MHL

THE Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) season just ended, but many teams including title sponsors Tenaga Nasional have already started planning for the next tournament.
Tenaga, who lifted the Charity Shield, finished second in the League and third in the TNB Cup, will ‘lose’ some seasoned players and are looking to inject more youth to their side.
And Tenaga coach, former national skipper Nor Saiful Zaini, also feels there should be a cap to the number of foreigners per-team.
“Just as the bronze medal playoff final whistle was blown, I started planning for the next season and I hope other teams are also doing the same.
“This year, there were too many foreign players in certain teams because they did not plan for the future, but hastily tried to source for local players weeks before the MHL.
“Naturally, all the good players were already snapped up, and they were left with no choice but to hire foreign players in big numbers,” said Nor Saiful.
And he feels it did not serve the purpose: “Teams with more than five foreign players did not benefit the Malaysian hockey scene, while I personally feel those who had five or less foreign signings, did much better in terms of parting knowledge to the local players while competing,” said Nor Saiful.
Tenaga did not sign any foreign players, as they prefer to field their employees.
“We will be losing seasoned players M. Kaliswaran and Tajol Rosli (both employees) as they feel that they have contributed enough and it is time for the youth to take their place.
“And we will be looking for more local youth and not foreign players, because that is our policy,” said Nor Saiful.
Yayasan Negri Sembilan and Nur Insafi were made up of more than 70 percent foreign players, but they still failed to land any of the three trophies in the MHL.

Kuala Lumpur fourth consecutive winners

RESULTS: Final -- Kuala Lumpur 6 Malacca 0; Third-Fourth: Perak 6 Kelantan 3.

KUALA Lumpur romped home to their fourth consecutive National Under-16 title when they whitewashed Malacca 6-0 at the Kuala Lumpur HA Stadium yesterday.
And it was no surprise, as they had the best players in the tournament and lifted the crown without conceeding a single goal in eight matches.
The tournament also served as a selection for the National Under-16 team, and 13 Kuala Lumpur players were named in the 47-strong training pool.
Eight players were selected from bronze medallists Perak, six from Selangor, four from Penang, three from Malacca, three from Kelantan, three from Negri Sembilan, two from Kedah, and one each from Perlis, Johor, Pahang, Terengganu and Sabah.
The newly selected squad will be coached by former International Lim Chiow Chuan for the qualifying rounds of the Tun Razak Cup in April and May before competing in a Four-Nation Invitational in Manheim, Germany from 10-13 June, 2011.
The other three countries in the fray are Germany, Holland and Belgium.
The KL goals were scored by Danial Asyraf (14th), Zizi Azwan (24th, 51st), Norsyafiq Sumantri (25th), Zahir Zaki (31st), Atithsha Tamil Chelvam (64th).
Meanwhile in the bronze playoff, Perak proved to be too strong for Kelantan and took a 3-0 lead off Ashran Hamsani (second), Khairul Adha (19th) and Luqman Hakim (24th).
Kelantan rallied and scored two goals off Faiz Zin (28th) and Aminudin Zain (35th), but Perak regained their confidence when Ashran scored in the 40th minute to make it 4-2.
And Khairul scored his brace in the 56th minute to make it 5-2 and it was plain sailing after that even though Kelantan scored their third in the 59th minute off Faiz.
Ashran claimed his hat-trick in the 67th minute, and the bronze medal was in the bag.

Fairplay: Pahang.
Most Outstanding: Amirol Aideed (KL).
Best Goalkeeper: Fitri Jasni (KL).
Top Scorer: Ikwan Ishak (NS) and Khairul Adha (PK) -- both scored 11 goals.
Man-of-the-Final: Norsyafiq Sumantri (KL).

No place for Ismail Abu..

FROM http://www.tnbmhl.com.my

There was no place for Ismail Abu in the training squad for the national team that was named despite some strong performances in the recent Malaysian Hockey League.

And the door was also shut on the likes of Khairul Nizam Ibrahim, Jiwa Mohan, Jivan Mohan, Mohd Fikri Bassar, Tajol Rosli Mohammad and Muhd Fairuz who were in the training squad last year.

Also being shown the door were players who withdrew from the national team at one time or another in the likes of Ahmad Kazamirul, Muhammad Shafiq, Hakim Adnan, Mohd Amerullah, Baljit Singh Sarjab Singh, Herwan Pami, Harvinder Singh, Khairul Azrin.

And with the NSC only approving 25 players for the squad, the coaches decided to circumvent it by naming five attachment players.

The national team will participate in the Azlan Shah Cup (5-15 May) and a Four Nation Invitational in June in Moscow. They will also participate in the Champions Challenge in South Africa this November before the Olympic Qualifiers early next year.

National Team

Players from Asian Games

S. Kumar (TNB), Roslan Jamaluddin (KLHC), Muhd Razie Rahim (KLHC), Baljit Singh Charun Singh (TNB), Mohd Madzli Ikmar (TNB), Mohd Amin Rahim (TNB), Azreen Rizal Nasir (Sapura), Mohd Shahrun Nabil Abdullah (KLHC), Muhd Shukri Mutalib (KLHC), Muhammad Marhan Mohd Jalil (Sapura), Nabil Fiqri Mohd Noor, Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin Abdul Jalil (KLHC), Faisal Saari (TNB), Azlan Misron (KLHC), Hafifihafiz Hanafi Maybank), Izwan Firdaus Ahmad Tajuddin (Sapura)

Players Recalled

Kevinder Singh (KLHC), Muhammad Azammi Adabi (TNB)

New Call Up

Muhd Izzat Mohd Rahim (Sapura), Mohd Fitri Abu Bakar (YNS), Shahrin Mohamad (Maybank), Muhd Firhan Ashaari (TNB), Faiz Helmi Jalil (TNB), Muhd Azri Hassan (UniKL), Muhd Rashid Baharom (Uitm)

Attachment Players

Nor Izzat Sumantri (UniKL), Amir Farid Ahmad Fuzi (UniKL), Arief Iskandar Khamdan (UniKL), Mohd Fitri Saari (KLHC), Mohd Noor Faez (KLHC)

Dropped Players

Khairul Nizam Ibrahim, Jiwa Mohan, Jivan Mohan, Mohd Fikri Bassar, Tajol Rosli Mohammad, Muhd Fairuz

Players not considered (who withdrew in September 2010)

Ahmad Kazamirul, Muhammad Shafiq, Hakim Adnan, Mohd Amerullah, Baljit Singh Sarjab Singh, Herwan Pami, Harvinder Singh, Khairul Azrin

Project 2013 Squad

Mohammad Hazrul Faiz Ahmad (BJSS), Norhizzat Sumantri (UniKL), Faiz Helmi Jali (TNB), Shazrul Imran Nazli (UniKL), Muhd Sabri Mohamed (TNB), Shazril Irwan Nazli (Uitm), Mohd Firi Saari (KLHC), Muhd Noor Faez Ibrahim (KLHC), Muhd Taufik Abd Hamid (UniKL), Muhd Firhan Ashaari (TNB), Fathi Kamel Shahrom Jamil (Uitm), Mohd Syamin Mohd Yusof, Hairulnizam Maizan (KLHC), Amir Farid Ahmad Fuzi (UniKL), Mohd Fariq Saadon (TNB), Muhd Hafizuddin Othman (Uitm), Harmesh Singh (MBPJ), Joel Samuel van Huizen (Sapura), Muhammad Ramadhan (UniKL), Arief Iskandar Khamdan (UniKL), Izad Hakimi Jamaluddin (Uitm), Mohd Rashid Baharom (Uitm), Ganeisha Tamil Chelvam (UniKL), Dedi Aryandi (UniKL), Muhd Afif Akmal Salim (Maybank), Mohd Zulhairi Hashim (UniKL), Sharul Azaddin (UniKL), Mohamed Azri (UniKL), Mohamed Shahril Saabah (SSBP), Faheed Saifullah (Uitm), Faizal Saari (TNB), Ahmad Amirul Alias (Uitm), Amirullah Zainol (Nur Insafi), Manraj Singh (Maybank)

Project 2017 Squad

Muhd Fitri Jasni (KL), Muhd Safie Shahrom (KL), Muhd Zulhaziq Hashim (KL), Misniwan Gusni (KL), Atitsha Tamil Chelvam (KL), Ahmad Asyraf Alias (KL), Zulaniq Adib Abdul Razak (KL), Nor Azrul Abdul Rahman (KL), Muhd Amirol Aideed Mohd Arshad (KL), Norsyafiq Sumantri (KL), Zizi Azwan Hassan Basri (KL), Muhd Farhan Danial Zulzairin (KL), Jonathan Anil Bhatti (KL), Muhd Ammar Zahri (Perak), Muhd Khairul Adha Ilyas (Perak), Mohd Zulhamizan Awang Abas (Perak), Muhd Najib Abu Hassan (Perak), Azril Misron (Perak), Muhd Husaini Mohd Husin (Perak), Muhd Ashran Hamsani (Perak), Mohd Helmi Jaafar (Perak), Muhd Hafif Elkan Nordin (Selangor), Nazirul Mubin Zebidi (Selangor), Mohd Hassan Shaherman (Selangor), Mohd Noor Khairul Azri Adnan (Selangor), Rafizul Ezry Mustafa (Selangor), Mohd Shami Ahmad Fozi (Selangor), Muhd Firdaus Omar (Malacca), Muhd Ridzwan Azmi (Malacca), Luqman Nurhakim Saiful (Malacca), Mohd Fahmi Asri Amir (Penang), Muhd Azwar Abdul Rahman (Penang), Abdul Muhaimin Abd Aziz (Penang), Izaidi Ismail (Penang), Muhd Hahmi Azhar Ruddin (Sabah), Mohd Aminuddin Mohd Zain (Kelntan), Muhd Syarifuddin Mohd Zain (Kelantan), Muhd Ashraf Mohd Noor (Kelantan), Sufi Ismat Rohor Amin (Terengganu), Mohd Hanif Hazemi (Kedah), Saravanan Matheyalagan (Kedah), Muhd Najmi Farizal Jazlan (Perlis), Muhd Shabariq Shamsuri (NS), S. Devamoorthy (NS), Muhd Ikhwan Ishak (NS), Kaarul Ariffin Kamaruddin (Johor), Abdul Halim Jalil (Pahang)

Twenty-five for national training

TWENTY-FIVE players were selected from the Malaysia
Hockey League (MHL) for national training, and 16 of them were from the Asian Games silver-medal winning side.
Azlan Misron was named as the skipper, while goalkeeper S. Kumar, Razie Rahim and Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin were named as co-captains.
Kelvinder Singh, the most promising player in the 2005 Junior Worold Cup, was given another life-line after he showed marked progress in the MHL.
Kelvinder was sidelined after picking up an injury during the New Zealand World Cup Qualifier and did not play in the Asian Games.
The youngsters picked were 18-year-old Firhan Ashaari who played for Tenaga Nasional, and 19-year-olds Faiz Helmi (TNB), Azri Hassan (UniKL) and Rashid Baharom (UiTM).
Five other players were also named to the 'senior team attachment programme' and they are: Nor Hizzat Sumantri (UniKL), Amir Fairid (UniKL), Arief Iskandar (UniKL), Fitri Saari (KLHC) and Mohamed Noor Faeez (KLHC).
The only player who impressed in the MHL but was not selected was Ismail Abu of KLHC, who was a former national player but sacked for disciplinary problems.
The national team's first assignment this year will be the Azlan Shah Cup on May 5-15 in Ipoh.
NATIONAL TRAINING SQUAD: S. Kumar (Gk), Roslan Jamaluddin (Gk), Razie Rahim (KLHC), Baljit Singh (TNB), Madzli Ikmar (TNB), Amin Rahim (TNB), Azreen Rizal (Sapura), Shahnrun Nabil (KLHC), Sukri Mutalib (KLHC), Marhan Jalil (Sapura), Nabil Fiqri (KLHC), Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin (KLHC), Faizal Saari (TNB), Azlan Misron (KLHC), Hafifihafiz Hanafi (Maybank), Izwan Firdaus (Sapura), Kelvinder Singh (KLHC), Azzami Adabi (TNB), Izzat Rahim (Sapura), Fitri Bakar (YNS), Shahrin Mohamed (Maybank), Firhan Ashaari (TNB), Faiz Helmi (TNB), Azri Hassan (UniKL), Rashid Baharom (UiTM).