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INDIA and Pakistan will play in the final of the Asian Champions Trophy in Orods.THE national hockey team is getting younger, and finally, boys are seriously challenging positions held by seniors and experienced players.
The healthy competition has resulted in chief coach Tai Beng Hai having a bigger pool to select from, and not just rely on those with a good history in the sport.
The eldest in the squad is goalkeeper Roslan Jamaluddin at 33, while there are a smattering of 18 and 20-year-olds who are already making their moves.
Beng Hai took a big gamble by blooding Project 2013 players Fitri Saari, 18, and Amir Farid, 20, but it paid off handsomely in the Asian Champions Trophy in Orods.
Amir scored against Pakistan, and then his brace against Japan helped Malaysia to reach within grasp of a bronze medal in the inaugural tournament.
“Since the tournament did not offer ranking points, and some of the other teams had also left out their best players for various reasons, I felt that it was a good opportunity to try out new players.
“This also gave seniors who were injured, had personal reasons to skip the tournament, and those who are fighting to keep fit more time to overcome their problems,” said Beng Hai.
Team manager Stephen van Huizen, a former national player and coach, is also impressed with the commitment shown by youth in the squad.
“It was a good decision to allow youth to play in this tournament as some of them started quite shaky, but their confidence level grew quite fast and credit also goes to them for working well with the seniors to take the team into the bronze playoff,” said van Huizen.
Players like Firhan Ashaari, 18, and Faizal Saari, 20, have almost mastered attacking hockey and this will help Malaysia’s cause to finish among the top-four in the South Africa Champions Challenge Nov 26-Dec 4 .
And then, there is the Olympics Qualifier next year, where Malaysia will be fighting for the single ticket to London 2012, probably in the European continent group.
Today, they face Japan again and after narrowly edging them 3-2 in the pool match on Friday, it is expected to be another close call as Japan are one of the hosts for the three Olympic Qualifiers.
“Japan, under their new Korean coach Kang Keong-Wook (who captained Korea to silver medal in the Sydney 2000 Olympics) has shown tremendous improvement in this tour nament.
“However, we have the team to win bronze, and that is what we will aim for,” said van Huizen.
India and Pakistan will play for the gold medal, and after a 2-2 draw in the pool match, it looks like it is going to be another exciting Asian hockey on display in Ordos.
TODAY: Fifth-Sixth: South Korea v China; Third-Fourth: Malaysia v Japan; Final: India v Pakistan.
By Jugjet Singh
jugjet@hotmail.com
MALAYSIA woke up from being two goals down to beat Japan 3-2 and will now play for the bronze medal in the Asian Champions Trophy in Ordos.
India and Pakistan, who drew 2-2 yesterday, will play for the gold while South Korea and China will try to avoid the sixth spot.
It was an amazing comeback, as a win for Japan would see them play in the final and at half-time, the Rising Sun were 2-0 up and looking dangerous.
However, Malaysia threw caution to the wind after the breather and two junior players delivered three scintillating goals.
Project 2013 player Amir Farid scored a brace while Faizal Saari delivered the winner.
Faizal dribbled three defenders before making a pass for Amir to score the first, while his own goal was a solo when he sliced past three defenders and sent home a reverse stick shot.
“When South Korea drew 1-1 with China in the earlier match, we only had to beat Japan and there was no more a goal margin to chase.
“This, to a certain extent got the players too excited and they were not their usual self in the first half,” said team manager Stephen van Huizen.
But a pep talk during the breather changed matters: “We told them to go out end enjoy themselves with attacking hockey as there was nothing to lose.
“And now we will have another re-match with Japan on Sunday.”
In the first match of the day, unbeaten India dominated the barren first half but conceded two goals in two minutes to trail 0-2 by the 42nd minute only to come from behind to draw the match under chilly and windy conditions.
RESULTS: India 2 Pakistan 2, South Korea 1 China 1, Japan 2 Malaysia 3.
P W D L F A PTS
PAKISTAN 5 3 1 1 13 10 10
INDIA 5 2 3 0 15 8 9
JAPAN 5 2 1 2 11 9 7
MALAYSIA 5 2 1 2 14 13 7
S KOREA 5 2 1 2 13 14 7
CHINA 5 0 1 4 5 17 1
TODAY: REST DAY.
TOMORROW: Fifth-Sixth: South Korea v China; Third-Fourth: Malaysia v Japan; Final: India v Pakistan.
Ordos (China): The high profile clash between India and Pakistan in the final group match of the Asian Champions Trophy ended in 2-2 draw on Friday.
India, who were down by two goals, came back strongly and levelled the scores through Rupinderpal and Danish Mujtaba, according to information reaching here.
Five minutes into the second half, Pakistan managed to break the deadlock by scoring the first goal of the match. They quickly followed it up with another one and maintained a clear lead but was denied victory by the Indians.
Earlier, a desperate India, looking for anything less than a victory, displayed an attacking game against the arch rivals but failed to score before the half time.
On paper, the high-voltage Indo-Pak encounter might be just a group match but in reality it was a showdown between two traditional rivals out to annex a spot in Sunday`s final.
The AHF at least could have managed video streaming in their website – believe me they have a name-sake website.
The Asia’s best tournament is being held without television, without website, without Live telecast or Text Commentary.
By www.stick2hockey.comWhat a pity! There is no Live Telecast. AHF to be blamed
As India takes on Pakistan in only second time this year, tension mounts amidst the hockey fans especially those in the sub-continent. A great opportunity for any television channel to grab the eyeballs, but what a pity there is none to bring those actions to the drawing rooms.
Whom to blame?
The Asian Champions Trophy is the brainchild of Asian Hockey Federation. The Chinese Hockey Federation is organizing, rather rescuing the event, on its soils. Naturally, it is expected either the parent organization, in this case the AHF or the host’s country, China, is expected to put in place television Live.
However, it has to be mentioned here the Asian Champions Trophy, starting of which was announced four years ago in Chennai during the Asia Cup had no takers. That time the concept was mooted by IHF, and it was willing to host the event for the first three years. However, the sedate phase with which the AHF functions, delayed the matter, and the matters were further complicated when the IHF itself was dysfunctional due to dissolution by the IOA in the early 2008.
So, then it has become a routine to announce ACT after every Executive Committee meeting of AHF which normally takes place whenever Asia Cup, Asian Games or Sultan Azlan Cup were held. It got as many times postponed as HI postpones the Nationals in India.
Strictly speaking Indian men did not qualify for the ACT. It was from the beginning stipulated that only the Continents best four, as now involves with the women, will figure. As India finished fifth in the 2006 Asian Games, and then fifth in the Asia Cup, India did not qualify in the first place. It seems India lobbied for its inclusion, which it did.
When AHF says ACT is a tournament of excellence, involving its best four or five. Then it is their duty to see the tournament is packaged professionally and marketed seriously. The two aspects which one normally does not attach to AHF. This time too the continental body, as it happened with respect to Asia Cup (Kuantan), could not organize television coverage.
In the electronic age, in the age of communication, we are now in a situation that even to getting the ACT result is considered breaking news!
The AHF at least could have managed video streaming in their website – believe me they have a name-sake website.
The Asia’s best tournament is being held without television, without website, without Live telecast or Text Commentary.
The shame squarely lies on the shoulders of the AHF. The entire AHF brass will be at Ordos, undoubtedly at the hospitality of the hosts. They will be able to witness the match, what about the fans all over the world?
If anybody wants to know how not to develop popular sports, perhaps they should dial AHF.
DOUBLE champions Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club will have five new faces when they start the defence of their Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) titles when the tournament starts on Sept 17.
Nine teams will play in the Premier Division and Division One with five teams doing battle for honours and a single slot for the TNB Cup, which is the knockout stage.
The Premier Division teams are KL Hockey Club, Sapura, Tenaga Nasional,Maybank, UniKL, Yayasan Negri Sembilan, Nur Insafi Penang, Armed Forces and UiTM.
The five teams in Division One are Bukit Jalil Sports School, Ipoh City Council, SSTMI-Thunderbolt, Uniten and Unimap.
The league starts with a Charity Shield match between defending champions KLHC and TNB. All the Premier Division matches will be played at the refurbished National Hockey Stadium. It will be a single round league with Oct 9 the last day of league matches.
Teams in Division One will play home and away with matches in Alor Star, Ipoh and Kuala Lumpur.
The KLHC five players who have either quit playing or moved to other teams are Megat Azrafiq Megat Termizi (Sapura), Noor Faez (UniKL), Khairul Nizam (Sapura), Hairulnizam Maizan and Mohamed Suffian, who has been elevated to the post of assistant coach for KLHA.
And their replacements are Ahmad Kazamirul, who played for Sapura last season, Mohd Syamim (UniKL), Mohd Fitri Saari and Mohd Harfizi, who kept goal for Yayasan Negri Sembilan last year.
KLHC's current internationals are Shahrun Nabil, Fitri Saari, Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin, Azlan Misron, Nabil Fiqri, Roslan Jamaluddin, Shukri Mutalib and Kelvinder Singh.
And KLHC's ex-internationals, some who are still good enough to play in the current national side, are Chua Boon Huat, Ismail Abu, Harvinder Singh and Ahmad Kazamirul.
"Defending titles is always difficult as our opponents will always play a notch higher when up against us. But I am confident my charges will be able to withstand the pressure," said KLHC team manager George Koshy.
INDIA and Pakistan will play in the final of the Asian Champions Trophy in Orods.
