Titah Sultan Azlan Shah: Be serious Malaysia..

SULTAN Azlan Shah has, for the first time, sent out a stern message to the Malaysian hockey team not to take his tournament in Ipoh from May 24-June 3 lightly.
    The former Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) president and current Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) president said this after holding a special meeting with tournament stake-holders on Saturday.
    “My message to the Malaysian team is not to treat my tournament as a practice session. Give more respect to it. The Malaysian team must be serious,” said Azlan Shah.
   He made that comment after a closed door meeting with stand-in-team manager George Koshy, Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) senior vice president Datuk Nur Azmi Ahmad, AHF secretary general Tan Sri P. Alagendra and National Sports Council (NSC) director general Datuk Zolkples Embong.
    The meting, among others, discussed the composition of the team for the Azlan Shah Cup.
    When asked if he would like to see a bigger pool of juniors in the Malaysian senior team: “Yes we did discuss about that, but I can’t tell you how many juniors (from the Junior Asia Cup squad) should be included, but suffice to say that the juniors should be given a chance to play against the best in the world,” said Azlan Shah.
    The Invitational tournament will feature six Olympic teams in Britain, New Zealand, South Korea, Argentina, Pakistan and India.
     Seniors coach Tai Beng Hai has included eight juniors, who won the Junior Asia Cup gold, into his training squad and they played a friendly against New Zealand yesterday.
    “I can’t name the final squad yet because Razie Rahim (main senior penalty corner flicker) picked up an injury in training and I need a few days to find out how serious it is.
    “I will be naming the squad only after I fond out if Razie can play or not,” said Beng Hai.
    The eight juniors who might just get a chance of a lifetime to play in the Azlan Shah Cup are Faizal Saari, Fitri Saari,  Firhan Ashaari, Faiz Helmi, Nor Izzat Sumantri, Mohamed Ramadhan, Noor Faeez Ibrahim and Amir Farid.
   Malaysia, who ended at last in the seven-team tournament last year, yesterday New Zealand won 4-2 in the warm-up friendly.
     “We might name the team on Tuesday, as there are some injury problems and also we need to give more time to the juniors to assimilate before we can name the final squad,” said team manager Stephen van Huizen.

Gold is what MHC wants..

MALAYSIAN Hockey Confederation (MHC) senior vice president Datuk Nur Azmi Ahmad yesterday set a sky-high target of playing in the final for the Azlan Shah Cup which will be held in Ipoh from May 24-June 3.
  His reasoning was: "The senior team need to redeem their pride after failing to qualify for the Olympics. This message was also conveyed to the team by president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah."
  Malaysia will be up against six Olympic teams in hosts Britain, Argentina, New Zealand, South Korea, India and Pakistan.
  And the prospect of playing in the final, which Malaysia did last in 2007 when under coach Sarjit Singh but lost 3-1 to Australia, is like scaling Mount Everest without breathing gear.
  However, Azmi was adamant that the team should strive to play in the final, as not only do they have home ground advantage, they have nothing to lose in this tournament.
  "There is no pressure on them at all, this is not a qualifier, and so I believe if you ask me personally, the target should be nothing but the final," said Nur Azmi.
  Yesterday Sultan Azlan Shah received mock cheques from sponsors for the tournament totaling RM1.32 million.
   Among the 21 sponsors were Astro (RM300,000), Perak State Government (RM200,000) and National Sports Council (RM100,000).
   As for the players, eight Junior Asia Cup gold medallists yesterday joined the seniors in training for the Azlan Shah Cup. And of the eight, the sure bets to be selected by coach Tai Beng Hai are Faizal Saari, Fitri Saari and Firhan Ashaari.
  The other five juniors are Faiz Helmi, Nor Izzat Sumantri, Mohamed Ramadhan, Noor Faeez Ibrahim and Amir Farid.
   "The five who had trained with the national team before are most likely to be selected as they know they style of play, other than that, it is up to the coach on who he wants to select," said stand-in-manager George Koshy.
  The team will be named after they play a friendly against New Zealand today.
  Meanwhile, Pakistan has recalled former skipper and penalty corner specialist Sohail Abbas to lead their team after their parent body barred eight established players from coming to Malaysia.
  The eight Shakeel Abbasi, Rehan Butt, Zeeshan Ashraf, Waseem Ahmed, Imran Warsi, Tariq Aziz, Adnan Maqsood and Mudassar Ali Khan, have been issued show cause notices by the PHF for taking part in the WHS in India in March/April despite having been warned of dire consequences by the federation for playing in an International Hockey Federation (FIH) unsanctioned tournament.

Paul Revington quits Ireland

Irish Hockey has today announced that National Men’s Coach Paul Revington has decided to step down after three and a half years. Revington commenced his position in January 2009 and since then has enjoyed great success with this squad taking them from 18th in the world to 15th over this time.
  Paul has earned great respect throughout the Irish Hockey community securing numerous trophies and successes with his large squad, most notably, taking the team to equal Ireland’s highest ever finish in a Europeans (Monchengladbach) last August where they finished 5th and more recently reaching the finals of the Electric Ireland Road To London, Olympic Qualifiers, in front of a home crowd at UCD. Paul has also garnered worldwide recognition during his tenure with Irish Hockey receiving the FIH World Coach of the Year Accolade last December.
  Revington wanted to take the opportunity to pay tribute to those whom he had worked with and the community at large “I will look back on the past few years having shared so many great moments with many players, staff and supporters involved with the Ireland Senior Men’s Team. Through an amazing collective response by players to perform for the good of a Squad we developed the Green Machine identity that has motivated and inspired so many people to support Men’s Hockey in Ireland and across the world. It has been a privilege to be a part of such an amazing Squad of people.
  There have been many outstanding contributions to our Men’s Process that I must acknowledge. My very special Management Team – Arul Anthoni, Peter Jackson, Stephen Barry, Dave Richards, Jonny Caren, Nigel Henderson, Tristan Seaton-Stedham and Brendan Carolan have all added enormous value and quality to the Squad for so many years and provided great support and structure to the Team often under challenging circumstances. What has been achieved to date would not have been possible without this Management Team. The Senior Leadership Team of Ronan Gormley, Geoff McCabe, Eugene Magee, John Jackson, Tim Cockram, Andy McConnell and John Jermyn have been an inspiration to watch as they motivate and steer the Squad at every turn. I have been very fortunate to coach with these men running the Ireland Team. All the various specialist coaches who have been part of the Squad have also provided such valuable contributions: In particular Tim Goodenough and Mike Cooper (Coaching Unity); Wouter Tazelaar, Adel Fuentes, Martijn Drijver, Robin Van Ginkel, Brendan Carolan and Lucas Piccioli. The many clubs in Ireland who have made facilities available to the Team during my period as Coach must also be acknowledged and thanked. Thank you to the various coaches of local and foreign clubs for their mutual assistance in managing the Irish players so well and believing in them.  A special thanks to the likes of Paddy Grimes, Andy Smyth and Peter Jackson for their assistance in getting Sandy and I settled on arrival in Ireland and creating a foundation to allow me to hit the ground running in early 2009. All various parties at the Irish Sports Council, Sport Northern Ireland, the Irish Institute for Sport, the Sports Institute of Northern Ireland and in particular to Gary Keegan for believing in the Ireland Men’s Team.”
   Revington continued “I am extremely grateful to everyone involved in the IHA for the support and especially for providing me with the opportunity to Coach the Ireland Men’s Team. In particular I would like to thank Angus Kirkland, Dave Passmore, Joan Morgan, Katie Roche and Fiona Mills from within the IHA and Stephen Watt representing Ulster Hockey for their many individual contributions to our Team development.
  Lastly and most importantly – thank you to the Squad of players who have represented the Ireland Green Machine with so much trust, energy and quality through my tenure as coach. I loved every minute with the Squad and each individual player and I look forward to seeing the next phase of “fast growth” as a Team and Squad.”
  High Performance Director Dave Passmore was keen to pay tribute to him "Revs’ record speaks for itself in terms of the level of play in the men's team and the number of tournament successes and notable results they have achieved in the past few years.  This reflects his own level of commitment, motivation and the ability he has to push and stretch players, management and Irish Hockey as a whole.  His departure is of great disappointment to all but he has left a legacy which must now be built upon to ensure the squad fulfil their potential in the future, a future that he has done so much to shape".
  Angus Kirkland, Chief Executive also commented on Revington’s departure saying “ Paul has been an inspirational leader to our National  Men’s squad since joining the IHA.  The success of the team has been a product of his planning, dedication and vision that the players have trusted, believed in and committed to wholeheartedly.  Thanks to this our Men’s team are now well positioned to make a  breakthrough into the Major Games in the next cycle.  Paul leaves our Men’s game in a far stronger  position then when he started and for this the IHA are very appreciative. All in Hockey will join me in wishing Paul and his wife every success in his future endeavours.”
  Paul will remain with Irish Hockey until July 2012.

All in Irish Hockey would like to wish Paul and his wife Sandy the best in their future endeavours.

Irish Hockey Association media release

KAVIN Kartik (pic right) is the last Mohican standing, as he battled all  odds to to be selected for the Junior Asia Cup, and is now  looking forward to his second Junior World Cup appear ance.
     The 20-year-old from Tampin, Negri Sembilan, played in  the 2009 Junior World Cup but after that, weight problems  weighed him down almost into the abyss.
     But he shed eight kilos just months before the Junior Asia  Cup in Malacca, and was aptly named as the Best Player of the  Final.
    That is not all, he also sacrificed one semester of his  matriculation to make the hockey grade.
    “I had to make many sacrifices and also work harder than  the rest because I was overweight, but looking back now, it  has been more than rewarding,” said Kartik after receiving  RM12,500 from the Malaysian Hockey Confederation on  Thursday.
    And the only non-Malay in the juniors outfit is ready to skip  another semester next year, as he badly wants to help  Malaysia make an impact in New Delhi November next  year.
     “I would do it again (skip studies) as training is a full-time  job, and I have the support of my parents to play first and  study later,” said Kartik.
    He was first spotted when as a 16-year-old in 2008, he  scored a penalty corner brace to beat Kuala Lumpur 2-0 in  the Razak Cup semi-finals after former skipper S. Kuhan  failed in numerous attempts for Negri Sembilan.
   K. Rajan, who was coaching the national juniors then,  spotted his talent and drafted him into training.
    “It was a dream come true to be selected for the 2009  Junior World Cup, and now that I have a second chance, I  want to help Malaysia achieve their best finish ever,” said  Kartik.
    Malaysia will not have penalty corner flickers Faizal Saari  and Noor Faeez Ibrahim for the World Cup because both will  be overage for the Under-21 tournament by then.
    “It will be a big loss as both the flickers played a major role  in winning gold in Malacca, but I am ready to fit into their  shoes if the coach wants me to,” said Kartik whose weight  problem was one of the reasons why he lost his penalty  corner touch.
     And what is he going to do with the RM12,500?
     “I will keep it for my education,” said Kartik whose father  Govindasamy and family members came in force to see him  receive the reward at a leading hotel in Kuala Lumpur.

RIP RAMAMURTHI

 FROM http://www.malaysianhockey.blogspot.com

 

It is with profound sadness that we report the demise of Ramamurthi, the elder brother of The Star Journalist S. Ramaguru.
    I received a call from Ramaguru at dawn informing me of the loss and am told that the funeral will be held on Saturday in Seremban.
   The late Ramamurthi was 59 and rushed to the Damai Hospital at around 3.00am as he had chest pains but succumbed to a heart attack.
  Will update funeral details later.
   My condolences to Ramaguru and his siblings as well as the rest of the family.