skip to main |
skip to sidebar
NATIONAL Juniors team manager Mirnawan Nawawi feels Malaysia should just field his charges for the Sea Games, as they have been in super form in an ongoing series of friendlies against Singapore.
The first match at the Sengkang Stadium in Singapore was a little shaky as Malaysia only won 2-1, but three more friendlies produced the desired results.
The national juniors won 7-0, 5-0 and 5-2 against the Singapore seniors. The last friendly will be held today.
"My personal opinion is that we should just field the juniors for the Sea Games without including senior players dropped from the World League Semi-finals training squad.
"This is because I feel that we need to expose them in a tournament environment to get them ready for the Junior Asia Cup at the end of the year which is a Junior World Cup qualifier.
"Juniors have shown good form in the friendlies but there is still room for improvement and we can achieve that by playing as a unit in the Sea Games," said Mirnawan.
Not wanting to belittle the other Sea Games opponents Thailand, Myanmar and hosts Singapore, Mirnawan said his charges will have to be on their toes to defend the gold.
"Singapore is a good side and it will not be easy playing them in the Sea Games. However, for the future of the country as well as early preparations for the Junior Asia Cup, I feel we must field the juniors without help from any senior players," said Mirnawan.
For the record, in the last meeting at the World League Round Two Malaysian seniors whitewashed Singapore 16-1.
"We need to win the Sea Games gold medal as a boost for the Sultan of Johor Cup where we will play against Pakistan, India, Australia, Argentina and Britain.
"We will again play Pakistan and India in the Junior Asia Cup in Kuantan, for a ticket to the Junior World Cup. So I feel this team needs to beat Asean opponents before they can start looking at the Asian region," said Mirnawan.
The Sultan of Johor Cup will be held on Oct 11-18 at the Taman Daya Stadium. Malaysia were champions in the inaugural meet in 2011, while Australia emerged champions the next edition. India claimed back-to-back golds in 2013 and 2014.
In the Junir Asia Cup, in Kuantan in November, defending champions Malaysia must finish among the top-four to play in New Delhi in 2016. For the record, Malaysia finished fourth in the 2013 Junior World Cup -- also held in New Delhi.
In the women's Sea Games event Malaysia will defend their gold against, Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand.
THE Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) has never seen such an intense campaigning in their half a century history, as candidates start making their final calls and rounds for the May 13 elections.
While the president, Datuk Seri Subahan Kamal won unopposed when nominations closed on April 28, the deputy president's posts are being contested by heavyweights in their own rights.
In the men's deputy president battle it will be a straight-fight between former Kuala Lumpur HA president George Koshy and incumbent vice-president Datuk Nur Azmi Ahmad.
The women's deputy president post will also see a straight battle between incumbent vice-president's S. Shamala and K. Maheswari.
George, who has also held the post of senior team manager for a decade, said he hopes to see changes this time around, as in the past, most pre-election ideas fizzled out after the hype and fanfare of canvassing for votes.
"In my mind it isn’t a battle between Datuk Azmi and I. It’s more akin to who is the right person to initiate and implement the much needed changes MHC requires.
"This isn’t a popularity contest, about any individual or state, it is about Malaysian hockey, which is the only world recognised team sport which is doing relatively well in the country," said George.
He feels the new team will have to make hard decisions, tough calls and drastic changes to the leadership, infrastructure, financial position cum sponsorship structure.
"There is so much to be done, even in competitions format, the national team and age group programs, players welfare and imaging. Ultimately it comes to re-branding MHC to be current, relevant and in line with the changes taking place globally," said Koshy.
Going by Koshy's manifesto, MHC needs a total overhaul, so states must cast their votes for the best among the two who they feel can make it happen.
As for Azmi, he also has many plans and has been busy on a blazing campaign trail.
"As a senior vice-president for many years, I have helped many states as well as individuals who needed help to develop hockey. Everybody in MHC is family and there are no enemies. George and I have also worked together on many occasions, but unfortunately the delegates can only choose one," said Azmi.
Azmi also feels the MHC needs an overhaul from top to bottom: "Before this only the president (Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah) used to bring in the money but now, MHC needs a strong team to not only bring in the money, but also plan and execute sound development plans.
"For example, I personally feel that the 1Mas Programme is heading nowhere and and needs urgent attention. The programme is supposed to unearth new talent and not nurture those who are already in hockey playing schools as well as belong to clubs.
"1Mas should be training at least 1,000 new kids every year, but their focus is more on developing players who had already been identified by hockey schools or states. This is not what 1Mas was set up for, and I feel it needs urgent revamp," was one of Azmi's election clarion call.
The stage is set, and the ceramah's albeit among small target group, has come out with many plans to help MHC and hockey grow stronger at the world stage.
The delegates have less than a week to make their mind, before going to the ballot on May 13.
MORE administrative worms crawled out of the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) affiliates as their May 13 election fever reaches a burning point.
This time, it was Sarawak HA's turn to fail miserably in merging the men and women's section and Sports Commissioner Datuk Zaitun Othman has caught them by their scrotum.
"Sarawak have yet to merge their men and women's section as well as register with the Sports Commissioner's office. However, they still have time to rectify the situation by submitting the relevant paperwork before May 13 to be eligible to vote," said Zaiton.
Zaiton said she only needed a minute to approve their paper work, if its in order.
A merger between the men and women has long been championed by the International Hockey Federation (FIH) but MHC affiliates have been slow as snails to get this administrative side in order.
"Sarawak can still vote in the May 13 elections, provided they give me the completed paperwork. I would only need a minute to make them legal voters when everything is provided," said Zaitun.
The worrying factor is that Sarawak HA have been actively involved in the MHC matters for the last three years even though they have yet to register with the Sports Commissioner's office.
The Sports Development act 1997 came to force in East Malaysia in 2012, but Sarawak have yet to comply with its requirements.
Sarawak were also involved in nomination candidates for the MHC elections.
"If they submit the papers, they can vote, if not it is better Sarawak HA stay away from the MHC Annual General Meeting (AGM)," said an MHC official who declined to be named.
The other worm came out from Perlis' can, as they have yet to submit annual reports since 2012.
"The Sports Commissioner's office has sent a warning letter to Perlis on as they have yet to submit their annual reports to us. But Perlis can still vote in the AGM as we have only warned them to comply," clarified Zaitun.
The odd matter was that while Sawarak, still registered with the Registrar of Societies, sent in nominations for the election, Perlis did not nominate anybody as they feared being branded as an illegal body.
Sarawak HA secretary William Lee could not be contacted for comments.
DATUK Rahim Ariff, Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) vice-president for the last 10 years, has thrown in the towel three days before the election bailout date.
When nominations closed on April 28, Rahim received the higest for vice president with nine states naming him.
The exit date for candidates is May 9, while elections will be on May 13.
"We received a letter from Datuk Rahim today (yesterday) stating that he does not want to stand for elections as he feels he has served enough for the last 10 years," said MHC Competition Committee secretary Hashim Yusoff, who is in charge of accepting nominations.
Seven men and three women were nominated for the veep position which requires a minimum of two women and five men to be elected. However, if the third placed woman received higher votes than that of the fifth placed man, she would also be eligible to become a vice-president and the numbers will be three and four.
With six men standing, and two more days to withdraw, at least one more candidate is contemplating throwing in the towel.
The six remaining men are incumbent Manjit Majid Abdullah (eight nominations), Penang HA president Datuk Ow Soon Kooi (seven), MHC treasurer Datuk N. Radhakrishnan (nine), Kedah HA president Sathis Kumar (seven), A. Vijayshankar (one) and Datuk Wan Ahmad Nizam (six).
The women's vice-presidents, minimum two posts, will see a three-cornered fight among Juriah Abdul Wahab (three), Nik Zarah Kadir (four) and S. Nagula (Four).
As for the two deputy president's positions, it would be straight fights between George Koshy and Datuk Nur Azmi Ahmad; and S. Shamala and K. Maheswari.
GEORGE Koshy is not in it for the glamour or glory, but to make sure there is a better financial and structural standing in the Malaysia Hockey Confederation (MHC).
Koshy, who has hockey blood running in his veins, will be challenged by Datuk Nur Azmi Ahmad in the May 13 MHC elections for the deputy president's post.
He is taking the dive head on, even though he knows that the MHC coffers are empty, while their organisational structure is hap-hazard to the core.
And even though only Kuala Lumpur has nominated him, as opposed to Nur Azmi who has 10 nominations, Koshy said Friday that he will not back down even though he has until May 9 to do so.
"I am not going to withdraw my nomination, and I am going all the way to voting day even though there is an escape window before May 9," said Koshy Friday.
His confidence stems from the feed-back that he has received after nominations closed on April 28.
"Many state affiliates did not nominate me because they felt that I was not serious about running for the deputy president's post. But now that I have made contact with the affiliates, many have thrown their support behind me," said Koshy.
The former Kuala Lumpur HA president as well as Malaysian Hockey Federation treasurer (before it became the MHC) said he knows that the financial and structural standing of the MHC is porous, and wants to come in to make them stronger.
"I will not gain anything from this position, as I already have everything I need in my life, and I am also not chasing for glory but to place the MHC in a better financial as well as structural position. I'm not going in blind-folded, but with many plans to help MHC.
And how is he going to bail out a bankrupt MHC?
"That will come with a strong CEO with a KPI to deliver the sponsorship side of matters. Hockey in Malaysia is a marketable sport, and I am sure with the right approach and planning, sponsors would not mind supporting our activities," said George.
In the women's deputy president's race, S. Shamala would be up against K. Maheswary. The vice-president positions, five for men and two for women, have seven and three candidates respectively but withdrawals before May 9 might see no contest but direct appointments in this section.
(Note: If the third lady gets higher votes than the fifth man, then three ladies and four men will make the veep).
