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UNIKL are game, but it would be a tall order for them to deny a Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club (KLHC) home run in the Premier Division of the Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) today.
The University team’s confidence stems from the face that they held Sapura and Tenaga to an identical 2-2 draw in the return leg of the MHL.
However, their game against double champions KLHC might just turn into a whipping exercise.
“We are second from the bottom because we failed to win any points in the first leg, but after holding Sapura and Tenaga to draws in the return leg, we have nothing to lose but much to gain as the semi-finals slot is still not out of our reach,” said UniKL manager Amir Ibrahim.
UniKL took 2-0 leads in both the matches, but inexperience saw them losing out in the second half to end up sharing points.
“I expect my players to give it their best and come what may, I am proud of their effort so far as they have tried their level best, but we were unlucky at times,” said Amir.
As for KLHC, they could seal the title by beating UniKL and not wait for their last match against Tenaga to decide matters.
The title is KLHC’s to lose, as for Tenaga to catch up with them in the last weekend, they must not only beat the double champions, but also pray hard that UniKL pulls off he biggest upset of the season.
For the record, KLHC whipped UniKL 8-1 in the first leg.
Noor Faeez Ibrahim is UniKL’s ace with nine penalty corner goals out of the 15 they have scored this season.
As for Division One, Armed Forces are just a win away from the League title.
The Army men top the standings with 11 points from five matches and will complete their fixtures against a winless Politeknik KPT.
PREMIER DIVISION
P W D L F A Pts
KLHC 8 6 1 1 43 11 19
TNB 8 4 4 0 22 16 16
Sapura 8 3 3 2 16 14 12
Maybank 8 2 3 3 16 21 9
UniKL 8 1 2 5 15 23 5
Nur Insafi 8 1 1 6 15 42 4
DIVISION ONE
P W D L F A Pts
Forces 5 3 2 0 8 4 11
Thunderbolt 5 3 1 1 10 5 10
BJSS 5 3 0 2 18 14 9
Johor HA 5 3 0 2 15 14 9
Uniten 5 2 1 2 10 11 7
UiTM 4 1 0 3 5 10 3
Politeknik 5 0 0 5 7 15 0
TODAY -- PREMIER DIVISION: Maybank v Nur Insafi (National Stadium Pitch I, 6pm), UniKL v KL Hockey Club (National Stadium Pitch II, 6pm), Tenaga v Sapura (National Stadium Pitch II, 8pm).
DIVISION ONE: UiTM v Uniten (National Stadium Pitch I, 5pm),
Argentina men claimed their tenth consecutive Junior Pan American title (Photo: FIH / PAHF / Paul Winstanley)After
14 competition days, 79 matches and a staggering 521 goals, a hugely
successful and entertaining Pan American Junior Championships in
Guadalajara, Mexico has drawn to a close.
It proved to be a fantastic event for Argentina, who
continued their domination of the Junior Pan American competitions by
claiming Gold medals in both the men’s and the women’s competitions.
For
the men, it was a stunning tenth consecutive Junior Pan American
tournament triumph, having won every event since the first edition in
1978. They continued their remarkable winning streak by defeating Canada
in Sunday’s tournament final, but they were pushed every inch of the
way by their rivals from North America. Canada twice held the lead in
the game, but Argentina ran out 3-2 winners thanks to goals from Joaquin
Menini, team captain Gonzalo Peillat and Joaquin Coelho.
As well as
captaining his side to the title, it was a stunning tournament for
Gonzalo Peillat who was named both Player of the Tournament and
Tournament Top Scorer with a 15 goals to his name. The penalty corner
expert has certainly marked himself as a player to watch over the coming
years.
Women - Final Standings
1. Argentina, 2. Canada, 3.
USA, 4. Chile, 5. Uruguay, 6. Venezuela, 7. Mexico, 8. Trinidad &
Tobago, 9. Paraguay, 10. Jamaica, 11. Brazil.
Argentina (1st), Canada (2nd) and USA (3rd) have qualified for 7th FIH Women’s Junior World Cup
Player of the Tournament: Florencia Habif (Argentina)
Goal-keeper of the Tournament: Sofia Belen Monserrat (Argentina)
Top goal-scorer: Manuela Urroz (Chile) – 10.
Fair-play: Uruguay
Men - Final Standings
1.
Argentina, 2. Canada, 3. Chile, 4. USA, 5. Trinidad & Tobago, 6.
Mexico, 7. Barbados, 8. Uruguay, 9. Brazil, 10. Venezuela, 11. Jamaica,
12. Puerto Rico, 13. Guatemala.
Argentina (1st) and Canada (2nd) have qualified for the 10th FIH Junior World Cup. Chile (3rd) will be the 1st reserve country.
Player of the Tournament: Gonzalo Peillat (Argentina)
Goal-keeper of the Tournament: Kevin Pereira (Canada)
Top goal-scorer: Gonzalo Peillat (Argentina) – 15.
Fair-play: Barbados
By FIH
UMPIRE LINGAM (right)
THE Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) suffered a new chaotic low, when Tournament Director V. Rajamanickam agreed that umpiring is at its lowest standard and he was forced to replace one on Sunday when Maybank stood their ground.
And Umpires Committee chairman Lt Kol. B. Muthukumar made matters more confusing by saying that he can’t comment when asked if he is standing by his beleaguered umpires.
Teams are said to be so peeved with the standard of umpiring in the MHL, that Maybank refused to enter the pitch against Sapura on Sunday because umpire K. Lingam was blowing.
It was a chaotic five minutes, as Maybank refused to enter the pitch, and Rajamanickam bowed to the pressure and replaced Lingam with reserve umpire Ahmad Fitri Lias to get the match underway.
“Maybank officials told me then that they had written to the MHC (Malaysian Hockey Confederation) saying they do not want Lingam to umpire their match against Sapura because he is not up to standard and also that it would be his fourth time umpiring a Maybank match this season.
“I then agreed to heir request and the reserve umpire blew their match, but later found out that Maybank had not written in officially about the matter to MHC,” said Rajamanickam.
Umpires guardian Muthukumar, when asked if a prece dent has been set where teams can now dictate terms on umpires, said he does not have the mandate to speak to the Press.
“As far as I am concerned, I do not have the mandate to speak to the press and you can ask the MHC secretary or tournament director to comment,” said Muthukumar.
When pressed if teams are now free to pick their umpires, and dictate who they want for their matches, Muthukumar again refused to comment officially.
However, Rajamanickam shed some light on the current state of umpiring in Malaysia: “There are 20 umpires for the MHL and only five are International while 15 are Class 1 and lower. So, there are not enough quality umpires to go around blowing in the Premier Division and that is why the same umpires are used.
“The other 15 are still learning and are doing a good job in the Division One matches,” said Rajamanickam.
When asked how to solve the problem?
“I personally believe we need to bring in foreign umpires for the next MHL if we do not want more chaos,” said Rajamanickam.
Nur Insafi are the other team which has written in to the Technical Committee stating that the standard of umpiring is very low.
The MHL has already been invaded by foreign players because Malaysia does not have a big pool of quality players, and it could now see foreign umpires in the future.
DOUBLE champions Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club (KLHC) whipped Nur Insafi-MBI 11-3 to consolidate their league title chase in the Premier Division of the Malaysia Hockey League.
And their quest was made easier when a chasing Tenaga Nasional drew 2-2 with UniKL in another match.
Nur Insafi, who have six imports, were never in the game and bu the 19th minute they were trailing 6-0 and four of the goals were scored off penalty corners by Razie Rahim (fifth, 12th, 18th and 19th).
The other KLHC goals were scored by Syamim Yusof (13th), Ismail Abu (15th), Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin (53rd, 68th), Chua Boon Huat (54th), Harvinder Singh (62nd) and Azwar Rahim (67th).
The Nur Insafi goals were scored by Waseem Ahmad (25th, 61st) and Nur Hrsikesa (47th).
KLHC team manager George Koshy said the early goals rattled Nur Insafi.
"The six early goals made a big difference as we did did not want to take any chances after Nur Insafi held Tenaga (4-4) on Friday," said Koshy.
Now, KLHC only have to beat UniKL and then the title match will be on the Sept 30 when they meet Tenaga in their final League match.
Nur Insafi had made a written complaint about the umpiring in their match against Tenaga: "We have returned the RM300 protest fee to Nur Insafi as they did not send in a protest but a complaint on poor umpiring.
"The MHL technical committee will now foward the complaint to the Umpires Committee," said MHL Tournament director V. Rajamanickam.
In another match, UniKL shocked Tenaga bu taking a 2-0 lead but inexperience saw them share the spoils.
UniKL scored in the first minute itself when Hafiz Zainol was on target and the lead was increased by Taufik Hamid (15th).
However, Faizal Saari saved the blushes for Tenaga with a brace in the 18th and 62nd minute to take his tally to 15 goals.
PREMIER DIVISION
P W D L F A Pts
KLHC 8 6 1 1 43 11 19
TNB 8 4 4 0 22 16 16
Sapura 8 3 3 2 16 14 12
Maybank 8 2 3 3 16 21 9
UniKL 8 1 2 5 15 23 5
Nur Insafi-MBI 8 1 1 6 15 42 4
DIVISION ONE
P W D L F A Pts
Forces 5 3 2 0 8 4 11
T’bolt 5 3 1 1 10 5 10
BJSS 5 3 0 2 18 14 9
Johor HA 5 3 0 2 15 14 9
Uniten 5 2 1 2 10 11 7
UiTM 4 1 0 3 5 10 3
Politeknik 5 0 0 5 7 15 0
RESULTS: Premier Division -- KL Hockey Club 11 Nur Insafi-MBI 3, TNB 2 UniKL 2, Sapura 1 Maybank 1.
Division One: Politeknik KPT 1 Uniten 2.
MALAYSIAN Hockey Confederation (MHC) president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah has offered himself as a candidate for the International Hockey Confederation (FIH) Executive Board.
This was announced at the MHC Council meeting yesterday.
"The board meeting would be held in Kuala Lumpur (Nov 2-3) and I have sent in my nomination to stand for election. I would like to serve the parent body at the Executive board level," said Tengku Abdullah.
The council also decided that the national team will play in the Asian Champions Trophy in Doha on Dec 21-27 and the composition on the team will be determined by coach Paul Revington.
"And for the Champions Challenge (in Argentina) we have set a target of top-five among eight teams," said Tengku Abdullah.
