Olak-NurInsafi kick-out indiscipline boys...

Tunku Mahkota Ismail Sports School's Norfatin Nabila Mohamad (left) and KLSS Wipers' team captain Nur Suraya Ashikin Mohd Zuraimi tussle for the ball in the TNB Malaysian Junior Hockey League Girls Division at the Kuala Lumpur Hockey Stadium Saturday. SSTMI won 1-0.

OLD LA Sallians Association of Klang-NurInsafi dropped two players due to indiscipline, something which the pioneer Junior Hockey League (JHL) club has never tolerated.

  They will head to Batu Pahat to play Johor Juniors Sunday with 20 players, but team manager Joseph de Silva has no regrets.

  The JHL allows registration of 22 players, with 18 registered for every match.

  "We dropped Kavinash Panicker and Ekmar Isa due to discipline problems and even though we were not allowed to register two more players to replace them, we would rather play with less than have indiscipline players on the squad," said Olak-NurInsafi manager Joseph de Silva,

  The players were dropped for failing to turn up for training, as they were only interested in playing friendly games. And as registration had already closed on March 15, the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) did not allow replacement.

  "These two players were given a chance to play in a Division One outfit, but they blew it because of their attitude. They only wanted to play friendlies in the run-up to the JHL, but refused to come for training sessions," said De Silva.

  There will only be one Division One match today, while the fixtures are heavy on Division Two.

  "We did not do well last season (finished seventh) but with the inclusion of five NurInsafi players, we hope to be among the top-four."

  The five NurInsafi players have experience playing in the Malaysia Hockey League in Division One this season and should form the back-bone of Olak.

  RESULTS -- Girls Group A: Wipers 0 SSTMI 1; Group B: USM 6 Zaaba 1, Uniten 1 Johor Juniors 1.

  SUNDAY: Division One -- Johor Juniors v Olak-NurInsafi (Batu Pahat, 5pm).

  Division Two: Group B -- MISCF-UFL v Terengganu Juniors (KLHA, 8pm), MSSWPKL v MCKK (KPM, 5pm); Group C: Young Hurricanes v TBSS Tampin (Malacca, 5pm), SSTMI Juniors v MBMB Warriors (SSTMI, 5pm).

JHL: UniKL scrape past BJSS Juniors...

Pic: Taufik Kamjai celebrating after scoring UniKL's first goal.

UNIVERSITI Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) scraped past Bukit Jalil SportS School (BJSS) Juniors 2-0 in the only Division One Junior Hockey League match Friday.
  Three other Division One matches had to be postponed as their players will head to India this weekend to play in the Asian Schools tournament.
  However, leg cramps were the order of the day in this Under-19 tournament, as two UniKL and four BJSS Juniors fell like pins in the last quarter.
  BJSS Juniors coach S. Prakash attributed it to the recently concluded National Under-16 tournament.
  "All my players went back to their states to play in the National Under-16 and have yet to fully recover from their injuries and stamina was a little low. I'm glad we did not lose by a bigger margin," said Prakash.
  UniKL coach Arul Selvaraj also placed cramps on his check-list.
  "This (cramps) can't be happening to such young players and its on my checklist. However, it was a decent performance from a team that only had five players that had previous experience playing in the junior league.
  "Actually it was only their third match together, and they lost the earlier two friendlies by big margins and so this win is a welcome relief," said Arul Selvaraj.
  UniKL got their goals off Taufik Kamjai (seventh) and Chairil Rusli (39th).
  RESULTS: Division One: UniKL Young Guns 2 BJSS Juniors 0.
  DIVISION TWO: Group A -- MSSP Stinger 0 MSS Kedah 3, MSSC-UFL Penang 1 MSSPP-USM 7, USM Juniors 0 MSN Young Lions 2; Group C: Johor Baru HA 1 Datuk Taha 1 (Johor Baru won shoot-out 4-2).
  GIRLS' -- Group A: MSN Kedah 2 Sabah SS 0, USM Juniors 0 CBN 3.
  SATURDAY -- Girls Group A: Wipers v SSTMI (KLHA, 5pm); Group B: USM v Zaaba (USM, 6pm), Uniten v Johor Juniors (KPM, 5pm).
  SUNDAY: Division One -- Johor Juniors v Olak-NurInsafi (Batu Pahat, 5pm).
  Division Two: Group B -- MISCF-UFL v Terengganu Juniors (KLHA, 8pm), MSSWPKL v MCKK (KPM, 5pm); Group C: Young Hurricanes v TBSS Tampin (Malacca, 5pm), SSTMI Juniors v MBMB Warriors (SSTMI, 5pm).

Junior Hockey League: MISC-UFL bent on development...

Pic: MISC-UFL Kuala Lumpur players training at Kuala Selangor during their one week camp there.

THE Junior Hockey League (JLH) season begins Friday, with three Division One matches postponed due to the Asian Schools Hockey in India.
  Division One will have 10 teams, with League champions Tunku Mahkota Ismail Sports School (SSTMI) and Overall champions Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS) starting off as early favourites.
  And In Division Two, 20 teams have been drawn in three groups and there are no clear favourites in this development group.
  The Girls' JHL will also be held simultaneously with the 11 teams placed in two groups.
  The number of teams competing in the Boys and Girls events is huge, and this augurs well for the development of the sport at the grassroots.
  And two teams in Division Two will be on a mission of their own -- to increase the number of Indian hockey players in the country.
  Malaysian Indian Sports Council (MISC) in collaboration with Universal Fitness & Leisure (UFL) fielded one team last season, and came back stronger this year with two teams in the Northern and Central zones.
  MISC-UFL Kuala Lumpur and MISC-UFL Penang will see 41 Indian and Punjabi boys competing in the JHL.
  "The objective of fielding MISC teams is to give boys of Indian origin (even Indian Muslims) a chance to play hockey and be spotted by scouts for further development.
  "There used to be many Indian and Punjabi players in the national teams, but today, only goalkeeper S. Kumar and Baljit Singh (Charun Singh) are left," said former international Nishel Kumar who will be coaching the Central zone side.
  After two months of training, the MISC KL went for a one-week camp in Kuala Selangor.
  "In training and during friendlies, the players were just average. But after undergoing a one-week camp during the school holidays, I can see some positive changes which I hope to see during our first match (on Sunday) against Terengganu Juniors," said Nishel.
  Nishel will be coaching a young side with four 14-year-olds, two 15-year-olds and 10 16-year-olds.
  The pioneer MISC side did not do well last season, as out of the seven matches, they only won one and drew one.
  But with a long-term development programme in mind, MISC have set higher goals to achieve in the next few years from these young players.
  MISC-KL -- Goalkeepers: Kumara Guru, S. Ramanan, Sanjit Singh Randhawa.
  Sharan Kumar, P. Roshan, S. Surenthar, P. Tanesh, Paul Chelladurai, T. Praveen, R. Phavineshmittra, P. Mithiran, Harroshan Singh Kuldip Singh, Harsuraj Singh Kuldip Singh, R. Kanesh, D. Vickneswaran, S. Shivaneishan, H. Kishorthanan, Danish Kumar, T. Perabu, S. Rishikumar, R. Thivagaran.
  MISC-Penang -- Goalkeepers: Haamrid Kumar, K. Harishan.
  B. Visnu, Chin Peng Hoong (Vinok), A. Muhkkesh Adrian, A. Gubenthiran, G. Mithiran, A. Arunan, Thullsisyamanath, N. Mugeash, M. Vassudevaan, S. Thanesh, V. Veeran, S. Tharushan, M. Nilavarasan a/l Mahendran, Angad Singh Khalsa, Gobind Singh Khalsa, B. Yuvvaraj, Jasraj Singh Sarwan Singh, Satvinder Singh Naranjan Singh.
  FRIDAY: Division One: UniKL Young Guns v BJSS Juniors (KLHA, 6pm).
  DIVISION TWO: Group A -- MSSP Stinger v MSS Kedah (Kuala Perlis, 5pm), MSSC-UFL Penang v MSSPP-USM (Sungai Petani, 5pm), USM Juniors v MSN Young Lions (USM, 6pm); Group C: Johor Baru HA v Datuk Taha (Taman Daya, 5pm).
  GIRLS' -- Group A: MSN Kedah v Sabah SS (Lela Pahlawan, 5pm), USM Juniors v CBN (USM, 4pm).

JHL; Olak-NurInsafi in a bind...

Pic: Olak-NurInsafi manager Joseph de Silva.

OLD La Sallians Asociation of Klang (Olak) are crying foul because they are not being allowed to change two players for the Junior Hockey League which begins end of March.
   Olak, who have re-branded themselves as Olak-NurInsafi, are even ready to pull out of the tournament if they are not allowed to do so.
  "We understand that the registration of players closed on March 15 and we did submit our name list. However, two of our players can't make it due to various reasons and I applied on compassion grounds to make changes.
  "But the Tournament Director rejected it saying that he will follow the rules and we need to show a medical cert to make changes. This boys have different problems, and we feel victimised, as we have been given the run-around on a small matter," said Olak-NurInsafi manager Joseph de Silva.
  De Silva is also peeved that after approving the JHL fixtures to start on March 31, he received an email stating that three matches on that day, including Olak's, will be postponed to allow sports school boys to play in the Asian Under-18 Schools Championship in India.
  "I received the email on March 25, saying that March 31 matches will be postponed to the end of the JHL because of the Asian Schools tournament.
  "We have already made bookings for accommodation and travel as we were slated to play in Johor Baru on Friday (at SSTMI) and on Sunday in Batu Pahat.
  "I believe since they want us to cancel our bookings and travel arrangements and pay a fine, the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) should also hear our case before making a blanket judgement.
  "Olak are the JHL pioneers and we will be playing in our 22nd year in the JHL. if the MHC can't show some compassion towards us, we might as well withdraw," said De Silva.
  Another team is also facing the same predicament, as they can't replace a player who went AWOL after signing the consent form.
  JHL Tournament Director P. Kuganesan said he is just going by the book.
  "As all are aware, registration closed on March 15 and players can only be replaced if the team management can provide a medical certificate to state that he is not fit, or injured and can't play.
  "As for the Asian Schools, I was informed by the Ministry of Education that sports school players from BJSS Thunderbolts, Pahang SS-Thunderbolts, and SSTMI-Thunderbolts will be in India for the tournament.
  "As such, we had to postpone three matches involving these teams on the first day of the JHL season.
  "Olak or other teams with these problems can approach higher ranked officials in the MHC if they feel they are being victimised," said Kuganesan.

National U16: Kirandeep Kaur leads KL title charge

Pic: Kirandeep Kaur

FOURTEEN-YEAR-OLD Kirandeep Kaur Gurdip Singh led a dramatic Kuala Lumpur fightback to beat Sabah 4-3 in the final of the National Under-16 tournament at the Kuala Lumpur HA Stadium yesterday.
  Sabah took a 2-0 lead but a strong second half handed Kuala Lumpur girls their first ever Under-16 title since the inception of the tournament in 2008.
  Kirandeep scored two goals in the 28th and 45th minutes, while the other goals were scored by Nur Syaza Afiqah (15th), Hasya Syahida Saifuddin (34th).
  Sabah were unfortunate, as they took a 2-0 lead off Cyra Cynthia Anis (11th) and Inka Shafika Juani (14th) before they collapsed under pressure. The other goal was scored by Cyra Cynthia Anis in the 33rd minute.
  "When we were two goals down, there was tremendous pressure on us to make a comeback, but I kept pushing from midfield and team-work won us the title," said Kirandeep.
  KL coach A. Kannagi, a former international, attributed the win to strong minds.
  "My girls never gave up, and fought till the final whistle and that was what separated us from Sabah who had shown a real solid form in this tournament," said Kannagi.
  RESULTS: Boys' Final -- Perak 1 Terengganu 0; Third-Fourth: Pahang 2 Sabah 1; Fifth-Sixth: Malacca 2 Negri Sembilan 0.
  Girls' Final: Sabah 3  Kuala Lumpur 4; Third-Fourth: Selangor 3 Johor 1; Fifth-Sixth: Penang 5 Negri Sembilan 0.