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UNIKL Young Guns coach I. Vickneswaran woke up to a crackling hangover yesterday, as he still can't get over the fact that his boys were hammered 6-1 by Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS) Thunderbolts in Division One of the Junior Hockey League on Friday.
BJSS walked onto the pitch as the whipping boys of last season, while UniKL were the double silver medallists, but the tables were turned on them four times in the first half-itself.
"Its a hard and painful lesson for my players who took BJSS for granted after they beat them 4-2 in a friendly before the JHL started.
"I'm still coming to grips, and the only reason I can think of is that the majority of my boys played their first game in Division One, and were slow off the block as they let in four goals in 35 minutes," said Vickneswaran.
UniKL only managed to retain two players from last season, while the others moved to Olak Tigers and Petaling Jaya Minicipal Council (PJCC).
Interestingly, PJCC opened their campaign with a 2-0 win over Olak.
"We play Olak Sunday and there is no other path for my players than to wake up from the whipping and snatch the three points from Olak. If not, we will be in deep trouble this season," said Vickneswaran.
The most promising start of the season in Division One was by Temerloh Sports School -- SSP-MSP-Thunderbolts -- who whitewashed last season's Division Two champions Nur Insafi 11-1. Newly promoted Nur Insafi is expected to face a torrid time the entire season.
SSP-MSP-Thunderbolts will meet high riding BJSS Thunderbolts today, and it will show the true strength of both the teams.
Even though both teams are sponsored and trained by Tenaga Nasional, the Thunderbolts' clash will have 'No Mercy' as its tag-line.
"Even though both the teams are under the Tenaga Nasional Thunderbolts programme, there will be no love lost when we meet Sunday. I expect my players to give their best again, as a win would put us in a good position to challenge the other Thunderbolts in Division One -- SSTMI Thunderbolts," said BJSS Thunderbolts coach K. Rajan.
Tenaga Nasional, under the Thunderbolts banner, provide funds and coaching to three teams in Division One and Anderson in Division Two.
RESULTS: Division Two: Group A: MSS Kedah 6 Kedah Juniors 0, Matri 0 Perlis Young Lions 1, Perlis Young Lions jnrs 0 Penang MSPP-USM 3.
Group B: Anderson Thunderbolts 5 MSNPK-ILHC 1, Anderson PHA 3 Felda Juniors 0, BJSS Juniors 5 MISCF-UFL 0.
Group C: Malacca High 2 Young Hurricanes 2, Datuk Taha 0 TBSS Tampin 3, MSNT-Terengganu HT 0 Pahang Academy 0, SM Sains Johor 0 SMKDBL Jnrs 2.
SUNDAY -- Division One: BJSS Thunderbolts v SSP-MSP-Thunderbolts (National Stadium II, 5pm), SMKDBL Young Guns v SSTMI Thunderbolts (Batu Pahat, 5pm), SSTMI Juniors v Politeknik Malaysia (SSTMI, 5pm), Olak Tigers v UniKL Young Guns (Tun Razak, 5pm), Nurinsafi v Petaling Jaya Municipal Council (Sungai Petani, 5pm).
UNIKL Young Guns became the early casualty when they were hammered 6-1 by Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS) Thunderbolts in Division One of the Junior Hockey League at Bukit Jalil yesterday.
But down South, double champions SSTMI Thunderbolts romped 7-1 over their juniors, which was an expected score.
UniKL, double silver medallists last season, were never in the game, and bad goalkeeping by Suhayl Ainol did not help their cause. Three of the goals went between his pads.
Hafizhuddin Zaidi (18th, 33rd), Rahimi Rosley (20th), Zulfitri Zin (35th), Adam Daniel (55th, 70th) were the scorers for BJSS. The UniKL consolation was scored by Iskandar Fareez in the 38th minute.
"It was a super start to our campaign as we took control of the first half and scored four goals to douse the UniKL fire early. We went in looking for a win, but did not expect such a big score.
"Hopefully this opening boost will make my players more confident of their capabilities in the next matches," said BJSS team manager K. Rajan.
Meanwhile, Division Two team Larut Matang and Selama threw in the towel three days ago, and the Malaysian Hockey Confederation competitions committee has sent them a show cause latter.
"Larut Matang sent in a letter three days ago saying that they are pulling out of the tournament and we have sent them a show cause letter. The possible punishment includes forfeiting the registration fee of Rm500 and we might ban them for one or two years depending on mitigating factors," said competitions committee member Jusver Singh.
RESULTS: DIVISION ONE -- SSTMI Thunderbolts 7 SSTMI Juniors 1, UniKL Young Guns 1 BJSS Thunderbolts 6, Politeknik Malaysia x SMKDBL Young Guns x, Nurinsafi 1 SSP-MSP-Thunderbolts 11, Olak Tigers 0 PJCC 2.
DIVISION TWO: Group A: Perlis Young Lions 5 Perlis Young Lions Jnrs 0, Malay College KK 1 SM Sains Azlan Shah 1.
Group B: STAR 1 Felda Juniors 3, Anderson Thunderbolts 6 Anderson PHA 0, BJSS Juniors x MSSWPKL x.
TODAY -- Division Two -- Group A: MSS Kedah v Kedah Juniors (Padang Serai, 5pm), Matri v Perlis Young Lions Jnrs (Kangar, 5pm), Perlis Young Lions v Penang MSPP-USM (Kuala Perlis, 5pm), Larut Matang & Selama v MCKK (K Kangsar, 5pm).
Group B: Anderson Thunderbolts v MSNPK-ILHC (Azlan Shah 1, 5pm), Anderson PHA v Felda Juniors (Azlan Shah II, 5pm), BJSS Juniors v MISCF-UFL (Ministry Education, 5pm).
Group C: Malacca High v Young Hurricanes (Malacca, 5pm), Datuk Taha v TBSS Tampin (Seremban II, 5pm), MSNT-Terengganu HT v Pahang Academy (Padang Midin, 5pm), SM Sains Johor v SMKDBL Jnrs (Batu Pahat, 5pm).
SUNDAY --Division One: BJSS Thunderbolts v SSP-MSP-Thunderbolts (National Stadium II, 5pm), SMKDBL Young Guns v SSTMI Thunderbolts (Batu Pahat, 5pm), SSTMI Juniors v Politeknik Malaysia (SSTMI, 5pm), Olak Tigers v UniKL Young Guns (Tun Razak, 5pm), Nurinsafi v Petaling Jaya Municipal Council (Sungai Petani, 5pm).
SSTMI Thunderbolts are expected to start their Division One double title defence with a win as they will play against their juniors in the Junior Hockey League (JHL) curtain raiser Friday.
And double sliver medallists UniKL Young Guns will clash with BJSS Thunderbolts, with the sports school getting a boost of fresh coaching and funding from Tenaga Nasional.
This season BJSS will be coached by Tenaga's K. Rajan, who was the 2009 Malaysia-Singapore Junior World Cup coach, as they were recently roped into Tenaga's Thunderbolts programme.
The other teams in Thunderbolts programme are Temerloh Sports School playing under SSP-MSP-Thunderbolts and Division Two team Anderson Thunderbolts.
Division One is again expected to be a four-team battle with the two teams promoted from Division Two finding the going much more tougher than last season.
Nur Insafi beat SMK Datuk Bentara Luar of Johor 3-2 in the Division Two final last season, and both teams were promoted to the tougher division.
SSTMI Thunderbolts coach Wan Roslan Wan Rahman is expecting a tougher fight from at least five teams.
"Of course we will play to keep both our titles but it will not be as easy as before because other teams have also progressed over the years," said Wan Roslan.
SSTMI Thunderbolts hold the distinction of winning the last four consecutive doubles.
"There is a bigger pool of players and many teams have a sound development programme. This augurs well for hockey in the country, but at the same time, makes it harder to retain our titles."
As for UniKL, coach I. Vickneswaran aims to at least win one title.
"We would like to trade in at least one of our seilers to gold this season. Even though we did not have the desired time to train as we only started after Christmas, but still, we aim to be among the top teams again," said Vickneswaran.
DIVISION ONE -- FRIDAY: SSTMI Thunderbolts v SSTMI Juniors (SSTMI, 5pm), UniKL Young Guns v BJSS Thunderbolts (National Stadium II, 5pm), Politeknik Malaysia v SMKDBL Young Guns (Taman Daya, 5pm), Nurinsafi v SSP-MSP-Thunderbolts (Sungai Petani, 5pm).
SUNDAY: BJSS Thunderbolts v SSP-MSP-Thunderbolts (National Stadium II, 5pm), SMKDBL Young Guns v SSTMI Thunderbolts (Batu Pahat, 5pm), SSTMI Juniors v Politeknik Malaysia (SSTMI, 5pm), Olak Tigers v UniKL Young Guns (Tun Razak, 5pm), Nurinsafi v Petaling Jaya Municipal Council (Sungai Petani, 5pm).
DIVISION TWO -- FRIDAY: Group A: Perlis Young Lions v Perlis Young Lions Jnrs (Kuala Perlis, 5pm), Malay College KK v SM Sains Azlan Shah (Kuala Kangsar, 5pm),
Matri v
Larut Matang & Selama (Kangar, 5pm).
Group B: STAR v Felda Juniors (Azlan Shah I, 5pm), Anderson Thunderbolts v Anderson PHA (Azlan Shah II, 5pm), BJSS JUniors v MSSWPKL (Education Ministry, 5pm).
SATURDAY -- Group A: MSS Kedah v Kedah Juniors (Padang Serai, 5pm), Matri v Perlis Young Lions Jnrs (Kangar, 5pm), Perlis Young Lions v Penang MSPP-USM (Kuala Perlis, 5pm), Larut Matang & Selama v MCKK (K Kangsar, 5pm).
Group B: Anderson Thunderbolts v MSNPK-ILHC (Azlan Shah 1, 5pm), Anderson PHA v Felda Juniors (Azlan Shah II, 5pm), BJSS Juniors v MISCF-UFL (Ministry Education, 5pm).
Group C: Malacca High v Young Hurricanes (Malacca, 5pm), Datuk Taha v TBSS Tampin (Seremban II, 5pm), MSNT-Terengganu HT v Pahang Academy (Padang Midin, 5pm), SM Sains Johor v SMKDBL Jnrs (Batu Pahat, 5pm).
STADIUM Malaysia Corporation Friday gave assurance that they are in negotiation with the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) on discounts for pitch bookings at Bukit Jalil and Tun Razak Stadiums.
This came about after clubs and social teams cried foul over almost 100 per cent rise in rental prices, which also saw the hours being shortened.
Stadium Malaysia Corporation CEO Azman Fahmi said: "We had no choice but to raise rental at both the stadiums because or rising costs like electricity and maintenance. But rest assured, we are in the midst of negotiating discounts with the MHC to lower the rates."
The Junior Hockey League (JHL), starting on Jan 15, is just around the corner and teams are edgy because there is no concrete development in the negotiations yet.
Last year, it was RM130 for the MHC to rent for one match (two hours) at Bukit Jalil, but the new season will see teams paying RM250 to RM300 with floodlights.
And at Tun Razak, which is also under the Stadium Corporation, the rates for night remains at RM120, but the minutes have been reduced from 90 to 60 minutes.
However, for daytime it has now doubled to RM80 per hour, from RM40.
All these rates are exclusive of Goods and Services Tax (GST).
"I have forwarded the new rates for MHC and its affiliates to our chairman for approval. Once I receive the green light, I can forward the information to the said parties," said Azman.
Last year, bookings for the JHL season was RM130 per-game, but it went up to RM300 for Malaysia Hockey League matches which were played under floodlights.
Comparatively, at the Kuala Lumpur Hockey Stadium the rates are much lower. Its RM40 per-hour for bookings from 8am to 4pm, and RM50 per-hour from 4pm to 7pm. At night under the floodlights, its only RM90 per hour.
The KLHA Stadium is fully booked months ahead as the rates are very reasonable.
On another note, Azman said both the hockey pitches at Bukit Jalil will not be closed this year for the 2017 Kuala Lumpur Sea Games preparations.
"Initially there were plans to close both the pitches to public as we wanted to re-turf them. But after discussing with the MHC, we will now allow them to use the pitches until the end of the year before we start re-turfing both the pitches for Sea Games," said Azman.
The only other facility at Bukit Jalil which will remain open for the year is the Aquatic Centre while the rest, including Stadium Malaysia HQ at the soccer stadium, will be closed for Sea Games renocations.
STADIUM Corporation published rates at Bukit Jalil: 1. 7am-7pm: RM150 per 60m, RM225 per 90m.
2. 7pm-12am (with full lighting - best for TV Coverage): RM300 per 60m, RM450 per 90m.
3. 7pm-12am (with half lighting): RM225 per 60m, RM300 per 90m.
NOTE: Negotiations are ongoing for a different rate for MHC, their affiliates and schools.
EVEN THOUGH there was a record 36-team entry for the boys, the debut of the girls Junior Hockey League is expected to see about 10 teams only.
Yesterday, the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) competitions committee released groupings for the boys Division Two, which will be played on a zonal basis.
"The boys JHL will see a record entry of 36 teams, 10 in Division One and 26 in Division Two. The total prize money on offer would be RM144,000," said competitions committee chairman George Koshy.
The girls JHL entries will close on Jan 30.
"We expect fewer team in the girls JHL which is scheduled to begin after the Chinese New Year. But its a step towards the right direction to develop the women's game in the country," said Koshy.
The boys JHL was incepted in 1995, and has produced many promising players for the nation. Even though the girls JHL is 21 years too late, its still a step towards seeing the women play at a higher level than the Asian Games.
Nine venues nationwide will be utilised in the two-month long JHL.
Defending double champions SSTMI Thunderbolts lead the Division One challenge which will be played on a league format.
The other teams in Division One are SSTMI Juniors, Politeknik Malaysia, SMK Datuk Bentara Luar Johor, UniKL Young Guns, BJSS Thunderbolts, Petaling Jaya Municipal Council, Olak-PKT Tigers, Nurinsafi and SSP/MSP Thunderbolts.
At the conclusion of the league, the top two teams will advance to the final.
The 26 teams in Division Two will be divided into three groups with matches played on a zone system. North and South zones will consist of nine teams each while South zone will have eight teams.
The top two teams in each zone will advance to the second round. They will be further divided into two groups of three teams each respectively. The group winners will play in the final.
The top four teams in Division One and Division Two will play in the Junior TNB Cup which will be on a knockout system. The champions will receive RM25,000, runners-up RM20,000, third RM13,000 and fourth RM10,000.
“MHC will provide a grant of RM3,000 to each team. We have also increased the total prize money by RM15,500 which is more by 10 per cent compared to last year's RM128,500,” said George.
He added that Sabah team will be based in Johor Bahru throughout the duration of the tournament with the Taman Daya Hockey Stadium as their home venue.
DIVISION Two: Group A: MSSP/PHP Perlis Young Lion Jr, MSN/PHP Perlis Young Lion, SM Agama (Matri) Perlis, MSSD Larut Matang Selama, MSS Kedah, Penang MSSPP, KHA Kedah Juniors, Seratas and MCKK.
Group B: Sekolah Tuanku Abdul Rahman (Star), Felda Juniors, Anderson Thunderbolt, MSNPK/ILHC, Anderson PHA, Bukit Jalil Sports School Juniors, MSSWPKL and MISCF-UFL.
Group C: Tunku Besar Secondary School Tampin, Malacca High School-Hercules, Young Hurricanes, SMK Datuk Taha, Sekolah Sukan Malaysia Sabah, MSNT/PHT, Academi Hoki Pahang, Sekolah Dato Bentara Luar Jr and SM Sains Johor.
PRIZE MONEY: Division One - Champion: RM18,000; runner-up: RM13,000; Third: RM10,000; Fourth: RM8,000.
Division Two - Champion: RM7,000; runner-up: RM4,000; third: RM3,000; fourth: RM2,000.
Junior TNB Cup - Champion: RM25,000; runner-up: RM20,000; third: RM13,000; fourth: RM10,000.
