Malaysia 2 Singapore 2

MALAYSIA started on a pathetic note, when they clawed back from being 0-2 down, to hold Singapore to a 2-2 draw in the Junior Asia Cup in Hyderabad, India, yesterday.

And after leveling the score, Noor Khairul Azrain was flashed the red card, and a 10-man Malaysia struggled until the end.

Juniors coach V. Muraleedharan described the Malaysian match as “rubbish”.

“The boys were just too eager to get back into the match after Singapore took the lead in the 20th minute off a penalty corner rebound, and that resulted in Malaysia chasing a 0-2 lead at the end of the first half.

“In the dressing room, I told them to remain calm and play their normal game, and (Ahmad) Kazamirul score off a penalty corner in the 44th minute.

“Hang (Edzharsyah) leveled the score with a field attempt in the 49th minute and the team were looking good, but the un-necessary red card blew our chances,” said Muraleedharan.

Malaysia and Singapore are co-hosts of the Junior World Cup. Now, Malaysia will have a mammoth task of qualifying for the semi-finals, as they must beat Japan and India in the remaining pool matches.

RESULTS: Group A -- Singapore 2 Malaysia 2, India 2 Japan 0; Group B: Oman 1 Pakistan 3, Bangladesh 0 South Korea 8.

TODAY: Group A -- Singapore v Japan, Malaysia v India.
TOMORROW: Group B -- Oman v Bangladesh, South Korea v Pakistan.
July 14: Group A -- Japan v Malaysia, India v Singapore; Group B: Pakistan v Bangladesh, South Korea v Oman.

Ric's Indian Honeymoon Over

Ric Charlesworth captained the Australian men’s team, was a Member of Parliament besides a first-class cricketer with 2,000-plus runs for Western Australia. On retirement, he successfully coached the Aussie women’s team, Hockeyroos, to World Cup (1994, ’98), Olympic (1996, 2000), Commonwealth Games (1998) and Champions Trophy (’93, ’95, ’97, ’99) gold medals. In the recent years, he had moved to Italy where he wrote an offbeat book titled Shakespeare the coach that followed his two previous works, The Coach: Managing for success and Staying at the top.

NEW DELHI/HYDERABAD: Ric Charlesworth's honeymoon with Indian hockey is over. The high-profile Australian consultant has put in his papers and left Hyderabad for Delhi en route to Melbourne on Wednesday night.
Secretary-general of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) Randhir Singh told IANS that Charlesworth has indeed quit, but his resignation is kept on hold.

A decision would be taken only after meeting the International Hockey Federation (FIH) officials as the international body had deputed him as the technical director to assist the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF).

An ad hoc committee member said that some of Charleworth's demands were unreasonable and unacceptable.

"He had asked for a bomb as salary, to the tune of $70,000 per annum from the government and another $70,000 from the FIH Olympic solidarity fund," said the official not wanting to be named.

Over and above the Australian had asked for unimaginable perks, he added.

The official said the Australian's tenure in India was nothing much to speak of. He was flitting in and out of the country attending seminars and workshops making Delhi his base.

He used every excuse to go to Australia, making his stay in India uneventful. Before leaving Hyderabad, where he was to assess the performance of the Indian players in the Junior Asia Cup, starting Friday, Charlesworth told the media that he was frustrated at the way the the hockey administration ran the sport in the country.

Citing reasons for his quitting, Charleworth stated that he was mischievously not allowed to be a part of the men's OIympic qualifiers by the IHF and the Sports Authority of India (SAI).

"The problems in is the plans are of short-term. I have seen both the men's and the women's teams. I came here with an optimistic approach and when I saw the players for the first time I felt they are extremely gifted. I feel my impact here would have been that of a catalyst," he told a television channel.

He said he was extremely unhappy with the nature of his assignment and the tardy pace of progress in the execution of his recommendations.

"I cannot work in a pressure-cooker atmosphere. Moreover, the expected changes in the system did not come about. I had told K. P. S. Gill ( the ousted IHF president) the steps needed to be taken to revamp the system, " he said.

Charlesworth also said he had expected India to learn from the debacle in Olympic qualifier, but that had not happened.

"I thought it (debacle) will act like a catalyst but unfortunately other events have conspired to derail the process. There should be an urgency and the crisis should be handled in a professional way," he said.

Charlesworth said he was clueless about his role in Indian hockey and although he was appointed as consultant before the the Olympic qualifiers, he was still not clear what he was expected to do. Charlesworth was also unhappy with the scheduling of his work by SAI.
New Indian Express

When Losing Not An Option

Junior Asia Cup Statistics
No Year (Host) Gold Silver Bronze
1 1987 (Karachi) Pakistan, South Korea, India.
2 1992 (Kuala Lumpur) Pakistan, Malaysia, South korea.
3 1996 (Singapore) Pakistan, India, Japan.
4 2000 (Kuala Lumpur) South Korea, India, Malaysia.
5 2004 (Karachi) India, Pakistan, South Korea.

THE Junior Asia Cup starts today, with Malaysia locking horns with Singapore in Hyderabad, India, and losing is not an option.
The tournament offers three seats to the 2009 Junior World Cup, which Malaysia and Singapore will co-host, so the curtain raiser will be a clash of pride, more than anything else.
Malaysia are in Group A with Singapore, India and Japan; while in Group B are Bangladesh, South Korea, Oman and Pakistan.
And if either Malaysia or Singapore reach the semi-finals, all the last four will be automatic qualifiers as well.
“I am confident that we have the material to beat Singapore, and then we will have to give our best against Japan to qualify for the semi-finals.
“India juniors are in a league of their own, so we will not be hoping too much out of that match,” said national juniors coach V. Muraleedharan.
TODAY: Group A -- Singapore v Malaysia, India v Japan; Group B: Oman v Pakistan, Bangladesh v South Korea.
Tomorrow: Group A -- Singapore v Japan, Malaysia v India.
July 13: Group B -- Oman v Bangladesh, South Korea v Pakistan.
July 14: Group A -- Japan v Malaysia, India v Singapore; Group B: Pakistan v Bangladesh, South Korea v Oman.

Kim For Malaysia Next?

FIH HOMEPAGE -- KIM Sang Ryul raised more than a few eyebrows at the Athens Olympics when he said he found it impossible to handle a women’s team.
“All they want to do is colour their hair, paint their nails and go shopping.” he said.
Now the former Korean women’s coach has taken up a new challenge with the China men’s squad.
Will he take up a Malaysian challenge after the Beijing Olympics?

THE Malaysian Hockey Federation’s (MHF) coaching committee chairman C. Paramalingam claims to have no knowledge but the National Sports Council (NSC) has made it known that it prefers a foreigner to handle the national team.
NSC director general Datuk Zolkples Embong has spoken to MHF deputy president Tunku Majid, indicating that the agency will fully support should the federation decide to go foreign.
“I had a meeting with (MHF deputy president) Tunku Majid (Sultan Iskandar) where it was verbally agreed that South Korean Kim Sang Ryul be hired because he has proven to be a coach of caliber. Maybe Tunku Majid has yet to brief the coaching committee.”
And the NSC is thinking about a full-time coach, not a consultant.
“We have an excellent set of players in the national team now, but sadly, they have not shown any improvement under local coaches. Players like Ismail Abu and Tengku (Ahmad) Tajuddin (both strikers) are potential world-class players, but have not improved over the years.
“I feel that a foreign coach like Kim can help their progress. But I would like to state that the decision is in the hands of the MHF, and we are merely playing a supporting role.”
Sang Ryul is now coaching the China team, and he was instrumental in the hosts qualifying for the Olympics, on merit, by finishing second in the Doha Asian Games.
“Kim has a contract with China until the Olympics, and if the MHF wants him, they can have him as a full-time coach after that,” said Zolkples.
However, the coaching committee is totally against a full-time foreign coach.
“Sarjit Singh (current national coach), was tasked to qualify for the 2010 Delhi World Cup and the 2012 London Olympics without the need to go through a qualifier when he was appointed in January 2007.
“I strongly disagree on a full-time foreign coach as even the MHF council had only endorsed a striker consultant to help Sarjit.
“There is something sinister in this move, because when Sarjit delivered in 2007 by finishing second in the Azlan Shah Cup and third in the Asia Cup, nobody questioned his capabilities.
“And then, there was never a target of qualifying for the Olympics after Germany were dumped in our group. The target was to reach the final, and that was missed by a whisker when Japan scored the disputed equaliser,” said Paramalingam.
The national team have no major assignment this year, but are in training for the 2009 Asia Cup, which offers a direct entry into the Delhi World Cup.

Hakim Is Good, But Lazy

SHAHID Ali Khan with Hakim (in Black).

NATIONAL goalkeepers’ coach Shahid Ali Khan sees promise in junior Hakim Adnan provided he sheds his lazy attitude in training.

Hakim will be the player between the posts for Malaysia in the Junior Asia Cup which starts on Friday in Hyderabad, India.

The tournament offers three tickets to the 2009 Junior World Cup but co-hosts Malaysia and Singapore need not sweat.

Malaysia are in Group A with Singapore, Japan and India, while in Group B are Bangladesh, South Korea, Oman and Pakistan.

“Hakim has the height and is agile and I see a great future for him, but he is lazy and does not like training. Also, he does not keep fit when left on his own.

“I am working to change his attitude, as I believe he can challenge seniors goalkeeper (S.) Kumar in a few years,” said Shahid, who was a former Pakistan international.

The No 2 juniors goalkeeper is Safiuddin Sahrom, but he is unlikely to see much action in Hyderabad.

“Goalkeepers are so well protected these days that one rarely gets injured. Most teams have started with only one goalkeeper so that they can have an extra man in outfield,” said Shahid.

“We also fielded one goalkeeper in many of the Azlan Shah Cup matches and I believe this will be the trend in the Asia Cup too.”

Shahid is also impressed with five young goalkeepers he saw in action at the Terengganu Malaysia Games.

“I will call them for a training stint soon and select a few who show promise to have a bigger pool of goalkeepers.”

Currently Kumar is the No 1, while the others are miles behind.