Dharmaraj has eyes fixed on gold

PROJECT 2013 won a refreshing gold in the Sultan of Johor Cup but their true test will come in the Junior Asia Cup in Malacca on May 3-13.
Coach K. Dharmaraj's charges finally landed the elusive international gold medal, immaterial whether at senior or junior level, when they beat Australia 3-2 in extra-time in the inaugural Sultan of Johor Cup.
For the record, Malaysia's other hockey gold medals were all won at the Sea Games.
And for the Junior Asia Cup, which also doubles up as a Junior World Cup Qualifier, the target is to finish in the top two and make the grade.
Defending champions India, as hosts of the Junior World Cup, snatched a spot while nine other teams -- Pakistan, South Korea, Japan, China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Iran, Thailand and Malaysia -- will make up the rest.
The top three finishers in Malacca qualify for the World Cup, but Dharmaraj wants the gold medal. "We must not only play in the final in Malacca but also win the gold medal because it is becoming increasingly difficult to play in the World Cup and Olympics as the standard among teams around the world is fast improving," he said.
His confidence stems from the fact that his players made short work out of Australia, South Korea, India, Pakistan and New Zealand to lay their hands on the Sultan of Johor Cup.
"I was fortunate to see for myself lower ranked teams like Ukraine, Chile and Russia play in the Dublin Olympic Qualifier and was shocked at how much they have improved," said Dharmaraj.
"They have strong basics and good dribbling skills, The only area they are lacking is penalty corner executions and also PC defence.
"They lost out in that two areas, but I believe in a few years it will be difficult to make the World Cup and Olympic grades if our juniors do not start having the winning attitude in them."
And that is why even if his charges need only to finish among the top three in Malacca, Dharmaraj wants the gold medal badly.
With the inclusion of brothers Faizal and Fitri Saari into the Project squad, the coach's target is not far fetched.
"Both will be of great help as they showed maturity in their touches in Dublin," said Dharmaraj.

What's next Malaysian HC?

COMMENT By Vijesh Rai (left|)
(NST Sports Editor)

GOING by the silence since the 'Irish tragedy', it would seem that the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) hadn't expected the Olympic Qualifier to end the way it did for the national team.
Not only did Malaysia fail to make the Olympics, they couldn't even make the final of the Qualifier and one wonders which hurt MHC more.
Millions were spent preparing the squad but Tai Beng Hai's men 'emulated' their predecessors from the 2004 and '08 campaigns and will now have to watch the Olympics on television.
The question now is where does hockey go from here?
For sure, the national career of some players is over for MHC has no choice but to start rebuilding immediately for the 2014 World Cup, another tournament that Malaysia have not featured in since hosting the 2002 edition.
There are some who feel that the coaches must be "released" while others opine that MHC's big guns should also do the honourable thing and quit the national body.
One fan even said Malaysia should just forget about hockey -- all team sports for that matter -- as we are lagging so far behind that there is no hope of ever catching up, let alone regaining the lofty heights of once before.
The words may seem harsh to the MHC, especially as it was only about 18 months ago when the national team were lauded for winning silver in the Asian Games but this is the price that has to be paid for failure.
There are some who feel otherwise but the team failed and the onus is now on MHC to convince us that hockey can indeed fly the Malaysian flag high on the international arena.
The whole structure -- from the grassroots to the various national teams -- needs to be revamped and MHC is duty-bound to tell us how it is going to do so.
What it already knows -- after three failed Olympic campaigns -- is that full time training for the national squad doesn't work.
Prior to the Qualifier in Dublin, the national team were grouped together for extended periods of time, were sent on several playing tours but when it came to the crunch, they were found wanting on the competitive stage.
What is worrying is that the Project 2013 team, preparing for the Junior Asia Cup in May, are also in virtual full time training for a championship that doubles up as next year's Junior World Cup Qualifier.
This is an episode that has been repeated regularly over the last decade or so and with the senior team now without anything major to set their sights on for the next 12 months, the fear is the juniors could also join them on the sidelines.
Simply put, MHC has to find a different formula to ensure Malaysia are competitive enough to advance past Qualifiers or even win titles.
Locally, the highest quality competition the players have is the MHL and we know how competitive that is, so MHC has no choice but to set its sights abroad.
This is not a new suggestion but given the failure in Dublin, MHC is left with no other choice.
The silence has been deafening since last Saturday's failure in Dublin and one can only hope that this is because MHC is putting great thought into how hockey is going to rise again.
The real fear, though, is that it is waiting for the storm to subside and for Malaysians to forget that hockey will not, for the third consecutive time, feature in the Olympics.
That would indeed be a tragedy.

Coaches need help

CLOSE ENCOUNTER: This was how close was the South Korea-Ireland final. FIH pic..

HIGH TIME: Parent body must realise this if Malaysian game is to progress

THE Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) must come to terms that the current batch of hockey players need a better coaching set-up to win the next big assignment -- the Asia Cup in 2013.
The Asia Cup, whose venue has yet to be decided, is also the qualifier for the 2014 World Cup which will be held in the Netherlands.
MHC should realise that local coaches need a foreign consultant and must look away from our shores like India looked away from theirs and qualified to play in the Olympics.
No disrespect to the local coaches who handled the team in Dublin, but Tai Beng Hai and Nor Saiful definitely need help in certain areas to strengthen the team.
Most of the players will still be able to give their best, as they did in Dublin, but they need a foreign consultant or coach to take them to a higher level.
MHC president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, who is also the Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) president, had said before the qualifier that that team need a foreign coach.
But MHC could not secure a good coach as the best were all tied down by contracts.
The failure in three straight qualifiers -- Madrid 2004, Kakamigahara 2008 and now in Dublin -- has made it much more difficult for Malaysia to wake up and play among hockey's elite.
However, all is not lost as the International Hockey Federation (FIH) plans to hold a series of world tournaments and scrap the tough qualifiers for the Olympics and World Cup.
Asia will be represented by South Korea, Pakistan and India in the Olympics, as Malaysia go back to the drawing board and hope the junior team make the cut for the World Cup by becoming champions in the Malacca Junior Asia Cup in May.
Tengku Abdullah has been extremely generous with funding to prepare this team for Dublin, giving them virtually everything they asked for, so it is only understandable that he got angry when the team failed to even make the final.
He left the University College Dublin in a foul mood after Malaysia drew 1-1 with Ireland and he then immediately flew home without watching the Malaysia-Russia match for third placing.
The MHC president has every right to be angry, but he accepted a hot-seat in 2008, knowing fully well that Malaysian hockey, more often than not, promises more than it delivers.
Meanwhile, South Korea snatched the Olympic Qualifiers gold medal from the Irish with only two seconds left, when Nam Yong Lee deflected home, at the University College Dublin grounds, to give his team a 3-2 win and a berth in the Olympics late on Sunday.
"It is good that three Asian teams have qualified for the Olympics, but it was very sad that Malaysia did not play in the final," said Korea coach Shin Seok Kyo.
"I watched the Ireland-Malaysia match on video to prepare for the final, and saw that one penalty corner which led to the Irish scoring, and one yellow card was unnecessarily flashed at Malaysia.
"That was the crucial moment which killed Malaysia's game."

South Korea in Olympics

By FIH -- Gold medal game: Korea 3, Ireland 2

It doesn’t get any more dramatic. With two seconds left in final game at the Electric Ireland FIH Road to London Tournament Korea’s Nam Yong Lee put in the game winning goal, sending his team to the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
Lee’s goal was the dramatic conclusion to a nail-biting, back-and-forth affair where both teams were fighting for their lives – and a berth to the 2012 Olympics.
The pressure was on the Koreans as they entered the both the game and the tournament as the big favorite, holding the sixth spot in the FIH World Ranking compared with Ireland’s #16 ranking. But the Irish have proven to be a tough opponent all week as #13 Malaysia learned in a 1-1 tie that knocked them out of the final game. Ireland also tied Korea in the earlier round robin meeting, 1-1.
Ireland’s Peter Caruth gave his team an early boost when he was in perfect position to put in a rebound on a penalty corner to give Ireland the 1-0 lead 13 minutes into action. With five minutes left in the half Nam Yong Lee slipped one in under Irish goaltender David Harte and put in the equalizer to make it a 1-1 deadlock at the half.
Korea dominated the opening of the second half as the ball stayed primarily on the Irish side of the pitch, but Timothy Cockram, who finished as the tournament’s top scorer with six goals, put in the go-ahead marker in the 56th minute firing the ball past Myung Ho Lee’s left side, giving the Irish a 2-1 lead.
But two minutes later Korea was awarded a penalty stroke which Hyun Woo Nam calmly converted to put things even at two.
It looked like the game was heading into overtime when the clock was stopped with nine seconds left deep on the Irish end. The Korean’s took full advantage of the precious last chance and stunned the sell-out crowd when the ball was fired in with two seconds showing on the clock. After a video review it was determined that the goal stood and Korean celebration began.
Korea can now look forward to joining the 10 teams already qualified to the London Games. Ireland can hold its head high once the sting of the loss wears off. The #16 team had a magical run on home turf and left it all on the field through the final whistle.


Third-place game: Malaysia 6 Russia 1

Malaysia made easy work of Russia in the third-place game with a convincing 6-1 win. For Malaysia the third-place finish was a silver lining in an otherwise disappointing tournament that saw them fall well short of vying for a place at the London Games.
Azlan Misron kicked off the scoring for Malaysia 2 minutes into action and Razie Muhammad Abd Rahim added two more penalty corner goals to give the Malaysians a comfortable 3-0 lead at the break. Malaysia was clearly underwhelmed by the domination as the goals brought little emotion from the team.
The second half was subdued with the biggest cheer coming from the crowd when Russia’s Nickolay Komarov scored his team’s only goal of the game with eight minutes left in regulation. Another two goals from Malaysia in the last five minutes of the game made the score a lopsided 6-1 final.


Fifth-place game: Ukraine 2, Chile 1

It was a moral victory for Ukraine, which picked up its first win of the Electric Ireland FIH Road to London tournament with a 2-1 win against Chile in the fifth-place match.
The Ukrainians were clearly pleased with their performance in the last game as they celebrated the win after the game. Meanwhile the Chileans were visibly deflated since they beat the Ukrainians just 24 hours earlier.
Artem Ozerskiy was the key to the win, putting in both of the Ukrainian goals on the penalty corner. His second goal broke a 1-1 deadlock with just seven minutes left in the game to seal the victory.
Ukraine entered the event as the lowest seeded team, ranked 29th in the FIH World Ranking, while Chile entered as the fifth-seeded team at 26th.

1-1 draw shuts the door on Malaysia

IRELAND held Malaysia to a 1-1 draw to qualify for the final of the Olympic Qualifier in Dublin yesterday.
The Irish will play for the Olympics ticket against South Korea today.
Malaysia started aggressively, as they went looking for an early goal, in them and there was an air of confidence which was not evident in this tournament thus far.
However, Ireland won the first penalty corner of the match in the seventh minute, and the Malaysian confidence received a further boost when Shukri Mutalib easily slapped away the Irish flick.
Ireland dominated the match after that, but stout defending by Baljit Singh and goalkeeper S. Kumar keep the score at 0-0, with Malaysia relying on counter-attacks only.
Luck favoured the Malaysians time and again, as Ireland dominated but all their shots towards goal went wide to the amazement of the capacity crowd at the UCD grounds.
The Irish played one of their worst matches of the Qualifiers, and rode on their luck, as Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin's reverse stick 10 second from the first half break hit the post and went out.
Malaysia injected some hope into their campaign when just five minutes into second half, Nabil Fiqri scored off a goalmouth scramble and the match turned into a sizzler after that.
The ball went from post to post, while Malaysia look to increase their lead, while the Irish try to salvage their St Patricks celebrations as only 24 minutes remained in the match.
Ireland win their third penalty corner of the match in the 46the minute, but a super run-out by Baljit clears the ball.
Twenty-one minutes remain, and Malaysia hold onto the slim lead, but still, not a single penalty corner has been won by Tai Beng Hai's men until now.
An injury to Faizal Saari, and a green card to Madzli Ikmar reduces the strength of the Malaysian attack and defense as only 15 minutes remain in the match.
Ireland win their fourth penalty conrer in the 56th minute, but Baljit Singh runs out tlike a sprinter and takes the full force of the ball on his body. He is badly injured, but Malaysia stay alive.
Malaysia entered into troubled waters in the 60th minute, as Fitri Saari was shown the yellow card, to sit out for five minutes, and Ireland were awarded their fifth penalty corner.
That was what the Irish needed, and John Jermyn flicked home the equaliser and the tide turned on Malaysia after that.
Marhan Jalil was then flashed the yellow, and it further reduced Malaysia's chances to win the match as only five minutes remained.

FINAL: Ireland v South Korea (12midnight); THIRD-FOURTH: Malaysia v Russia (9.30pm).