Open trials for Barcelona Veteran World Cup...

THE Sultan Ahmad Shah hockey team will hold an Open trial to select players for the Veteran World Cup in Barcelona which will be held on July 27-Aug 6 next year.
  The Open trials will be held at the MPPJ Stadium on Saturday and Sunday from 5-7pm.
  All Malaysian's are welcome and the age group categories are 40, 45, 50, 55 and above.
  The same Open trials will also select players for the Grand Masters Asia Cup in Hiroshima in October 2017 and so, players in their 60s and 65s are also encouraged to attend.
  For further enquiries, Surindar Singh at 0122841238 or Satvinder Singh at 0173333548.

JHL: Johor Juniors win shoot-out

JOHOR Juniors came back twice in regulation time to beat Olak-NurInsafi in a shoot-out in Division One of the Junior Hockey League yesterday.
  Olak-NurInsafi took the lead, and then were leading 2-1, but Johor Juniors failed to be broken and equalised before winning the shoot-out 3-2.
  Johor Juniors received two points while Olak-NurInsafi one point.
  Johor got their goals off Shafiq Hassan (32nd) and Kamarulzaman Kamaruddin (58th) while the Olak-NurInsafi goals were scored by Nur Najibrullah Ramle (22nd) and Adam Hafiz Hrsikesa (50th).
  "Nothing went right in our season opening JHL match, we took the lead twice but fumbled and it was a nightmarish shoot-out," said Olak-NurInsafi team manager Joseph de Silva.
  Johor team manager Shahbuddin Royani said: "We need to improve in our penalty corners as we had 11 in the match but failed to make them count.
  "But considering the fact that I had players as young as 15-years-old in the team, the two points is a good result to start our campaign as my boys showed fighting spirit to come back from being a goal down twice in the match."
  It was the only Division One match yesterday.
  RESULTS: Division One -- Johor Juniors 2 Olak-NurInsafi 2 (Johor won shoot-out 3-2).
  Division Two: Group B -- MISCF-UFL 1 Terengganu Juniors 2, MSSWPKL 3 MCKK 3 (MCKK win shoot-out 2-0); Group C: Young Hurricanes 1 TBSS Tampin 3, SSTMI Juniors 4 MBMB Warriors 2.
  GIRLS' Group A: USM Juniors 1 Sabah Sports School 5.

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).