TBS scrape into semis

PERAK'S Anderson School will square off against Tunku Besar

Secondary School (TBSS) of Negri Sembilan in the semi-finals

of the Champions School hockey tournament at the Kuala Lumpur

HA stadium today.
Anderson topped group B as the only unbeaten team in the

tournament with 12 points, while TBSS drew 2-2 with Hamzah

Machang of Kelantan to end second in Group A.
The other semi-finals will be between Seberang Temerloh of

Pahang and Khir Johari of Kedah.
Yesterday, in their final pool match, Anderson beat Seksyen

II of Selangor 1-0: "We rested some of the key players, and

told the others to take it easy against Selangor because we

had already qualified for the semi-finals before the match.
"And since the semi-finals is tomorrow (today) it would

have been foolish to stress out the players anyway," said

Anderson team manager Asrul Izraai.
TBSS coach M. Vivekananda is looking for an upset:

"Anderson have yet to draw or lose a match in this tournament

so I expect a tough semi-finals. However, we will be looking

forward to improve on our semis target, and play in the

final."
The Anderson winner against selangor was delivered by

Sofian Kamaruddim (58th).
TBSS took the lead off Shahrir Ariff in the eight minute,

only to see it cancelled by Machang's Izhharuddin Zain in the

55th minute. The Negri school again took the lead in the 60th

minute off R. Satish, but a 70th minute strike by Nur

Badruzzaman saw they share points, but it was enough to take

Negri into the semi-finals.
Pahang's Seberang Temerloh went on a 6-2 rampage to shut

out Mutiara Impian of Penang from the semi-finals.
In the last match of the day, St John of Kuala Lumpur and

Sultan Abu Bakar of Johor played to a 3-3 draw, which gave

Khir Johari the bbreak they needed to play in the semis.
RESULTS: Group A -- Hamzah Machang (Kel) 2 Tunku Besar

Secondary School (Negri) 2, Mutiara Impian (Pg) 2 Seberang

Temerloh (Pah) 6.
GROUP B: Anderson (Pk) 1 Seksyen II (Sel) 0, Sultan Abu

Bakar (Joh) 3 St John (KL) 3.
TODAY: Semi-finals -- Seberang Temerloh (Pah) v Khir Johari

(Kedah) 5pm, Anderson (Pk) v Tunku Besar Secondary School

(Negri) 7pm.
Fifth-Eighth: Mutiara Impian (Pg) v Sultan Abu Bakar (Joh)

7am, St John (KL) v Hamzah Machang (Kel) 9am.
Ninth-10th: Armed Forces v Seksyen II (Sel) 3pm.

FINAL STANDINGS

GROUP A
P W D L F A Pts
PAHANG 4 3 0 1 12 4 9
NEGRI 4 2 1 1 12 5 7
PENANG 3 2 1 0 5 2 7
KELANTAN 4 1 2 1 3 8 5
ARMED FORCES 4 0 0 4 1 14 0


GROUP B

P W D L F A PTS
PERAK 4 4 0 0 14 2 12
KEDAH 4 2 0 2 7 8 6
K LUMPUR 4 1 1 2 10 13 4
JOHOR 4 1 1 2 6 11 4
SELANGOR 4 1 0 3 5 8 3

Perak qualify for semis

PERAK'S Anderson School hammered St John of Kuala Lumpur 5-1

to qualify for the semi-finals of the Champion Schools hockey

tournament at the Kuala Lumpur HA Stadium yesterday.
Perak, in Group B, are unbeaten after three matches, and

will wrap-up their fixtures against Seksyen II of Selangor

today.
Anderson started the goal-count in the 10th minute, when

their skipper Jasdev Singh scored off a penalty corner, and

the other goals were scored by Norazmirul Azman (16th),

Zainol Akmal (42nd), Firdaus Sidek (48th) and Rasyid Hazar

(59th). The St John goal was scored by Harith Rosli in the

54th minute.
In another Group B match, Seksyen II of Selangor shocked

Khir Johari of Kedah 4-0 with goals from Al-Hakim Maula

(25th, 62nd), Nashriq Farhan (35th) and Hafif Elkan (53rd).
In Group A, Tunku Besar Secondary School (TBSS) of Negri

Sembilan blew a chance to qualify for the semi-finals early

when they lost 2-0 to Mutiara Impian of Penang.
Now, TBSS must beat or hold Hamzah Machang of Kelantan to a

draw today to play in the last four. The TBSS defeat has also

thrown the semi-finals tickets wide open, with Negri, Penang,

Kelantan and Pahang all in the hunt to play in the knock-out

stage.
Mutiara Impian scored two late goals off Muhaimin Aziz

(60th) and Rashid Baharom (66th) to top Group A on seven

points.
In the last match of the day, Pahang beat Armed Forces 2-0

with goals from Hafiz Zainol (28th) and Zulhannan Mazlan

(47th) to keep their semis hopes alive.
RESULTS -- GROUP A: Mutiara Impian (Pg) 2 Tunku Besar Tampin

(NS) 0, Seberang Temerloh 2 Armed Forces 0; Group B: Anderson

(Pk) 5 St John (KL) 1, Seksyen II (Sel) 4 Khir Johari (Ked)

0.
TODAY: Group A -- Hamzah Machang (Kel) v Tunku Besar

Secondary School (Negri) 7.30am, Mutiara Impian (Pg) v

Seberang Temerloh (Pah) 9.30am.
GROUP B: Anderson (Pk) v Seksyen II (Sel) 3.30pm, Sultan

Abu Bakar (Joh) v St John (KL) 5.30pm.


GROUP A
P W D L F A Pts
PENANG 3 2 1 0 5 2 7
NEGRI 3 2 0 1 10 3 6
PAHANG 3 2 0 1 6 2 6
KELANTAN 3 1 1 1 1 6 4
ARMED FORCES 4 0 0 4 1 14 0


GROUP B

P W D L F A PTS
PERAK 3 3 0 0 13 2 9
KEDAH 4 2 0 2 7 8 6
SELANGOR 3 1 0 2 5 7 3
K LUMPUR 3 1 0 2 7 10 3
JOHOR 3 1 0 2 3 8 3

TBSS impress in 2-1 win

TUNKU BESAR Secondary School (TBSS) of Negri Sembilan came back from a goal down, to beat Seberang Temerloh of Pahang 2-1 in Group A of the Champion Schools at the Kuala Lumpur HA Stadium yesterday.
And TBSS will be out to seal their semi-finals ticket when they square off against Mutiara Impian of Penang today. But if they falter, they will have to beat defending champions Hamzah Machang of Kelantan on Wednesday.
The match was evently matched into the breather, but Seberang Temerloh took the lead off an Ikhwan Manshor penalty corner in the 58th minute, only to see TBSS equalise three minutes later off a field attempt by Ikhwan Ishak.
The match was heading towards a draw, but a 66th minute field goal by Shahir Arif handed TBSS three valuable points.
"We have two tough matches back-to back after this, and need to keep our momentum to play in the semi-finals. Penang and Kelantan are both formidable opponents, and we need to play much better than the previous two matches to beat them," said TBSS coach M. Vivekananda.
In another Group A match, Hamzah Machang could only beat Armed Forces 2-0, while their final pool opponents TBSS had hammered the Army boys 8-0.
Hamzah got their goals off Nur Badruzzaman (31st) and Faizal Razab (70th). In Group B, St John of Kuala Lumpur beat Seksyen 11 of Selangor 4-0 with goals from R. Ramesh (40th), Ahmad Kafeel (58th), Joel van Huizen (65th) and A. Kaartheik (67th).
RESULTS: GROUP A -- Tunku Besar Tampin (NS) 2 Seberang Temerloh (Pah) 1, Armed Forces 0 Hamzah Machang (Kel) 2.
GROUP B: St John (KL) 4 Seksyen II (Sel) 0, Khir Johari (Ked) 1 Sultan Abu Bakar (Joh) 0.
TODAY -- GROUP A: Mutiara Impian (Pg) v Tunku Besar Tampin (NS) 3.30pm, Seberang Temerloh v Armed Forces (5.30pm); Group B: Anderson (Pk) v St John (KL) 7.30am, Seksyen II (Sel) v Khir Johari (Ked) 9.30pm.

GROUP A
P W D L F A Pts
NEGRI 2 2 0 0 10 1 6
PENANG 2 1 1 0 3 2 4
KELANTAN 3 1 1 1 1 6 4
PAHANG 2 1 0 1 4 2 3
ARMED FORCES 3 0 0 3 1 12 0

GROUP B
P W D L F A PTS
PERAK 2 2 0 0 8 1 6
KEDAH 3 2 0 1 7 4 6
K LUMPUR 2 1 0 1 6 5 3
JOHOR 3 1 0 2 3 8 3
SELANGOR 2 0 0 2 1 7 0

Anderson move closer to semis

ANDERSON of Perak stamped their mark in Group B of the
Champion Schools hockey tournament when they beat Khir Johari
of Kedah 2-1 at the Kuala Lumpur HA Stadium yesterday.
It was their second win, and it has placed them in a good
position to claim a semi-finals slot.
Anderson took the lead in the fifth minute off Soffian
Kamaruddin but Khir Johari equalsied off Firdaus Sabri in the
30th minute.
The Anderson winner was delivered by their skipper Jasdev
Singh in the 40th minute.
In another Group B match, Sultan Abu Bakar of Johor beat
Seksyen II of Selangor 3-1. Azizul Shah (second), Herwan Shah
(29th) and Azhari Zafree (53rd) scored for Johor, while the
Selangor goal was scored by Al-Hakim Maula.
In Group A, defending champions Hamzah Machang of Kelantan
suffered another blow when they lost 3-0 to Seberang Temerloh
of Pahang.
Ahmad Qusyairi (10th), Zulhannan Zainol (53rd) and Hafiz
Zainol (59th) delivered for Pahang. For Kelantan, it was
another nail in their hopes to qualify for the semi-finals,
after being held 1-1 by Mutiara Impian of Penang in the
curtain raiser.
Kelantan are the victims of a new rule introduced in the
Champion Schools, which capped the tournament for Under-18
players only.
Previously, even Form Six boys were allowed to play in the
tournament. Kelantan had to replace three of their top
players, and suffered a draw and a defeat.
RESULTS: Group A: Seberang Temerloh (Pah) 3 Hamzah Machang
(Kel) 0, Mutiara Impian (Pg) 2 Armed Forces 1; Group B:
Seksyen II (Sel) 1 Sultan Abu Bakar (Joh) 3, Khir Johari
(Ked) 1 Anderson (PK) 2.
TODAY: GROUP A -- Tunku Besar Tampin (NS) v Seberang
Temerloh (Pah) 7.30am, Armed Forces v Hamzah Machang (Kel)
9.30am.
GROUP B: St John (KL) v Seksyen II (Sel) 3.30pm, Khir
Johari (Ked) v Sultan Abu Bakar (Joh) 5.30pm.

GROUP A
P W D L F A Pts
PENANG 2 1 1 0 3 2 4
NEGRI 1 1 0 0 8 0 3
PAHANG 1 1 0 0 3 0 3
KELANTAN 2 0 1 1 1 4 1
ARMED FORCES 2 0 0 2 1 10 0

GROUP B
P W D L F A PTS
PERAK 2 2 0 0 8 1 6
KEDAH 2 1 0 1 6 4 3
JOHOR 2 1 0 1 3 7 3
K LUMPUR 1 0 0 1 2 5 0
SELANGOR 1 0 0 1 1 3 0

Australia made to sweat for win

By Bruce Hamilton

CANBERRA, August 2 – Australia had to work hard to defeat Malaysia 1-0 in the final of the three-nations tournament here Sunday.
Chris Ciriello converted Australia’s fifth penalty corner chance in the 24th minute, flicking into the middle of the net with Malaysia’s goalkeeper Kumar Subramanian getting a touch on the ball which fell behind him into the goal.
Australia earned a total of 13 penalty corners in the match and converted only one – drawing the ire of Australia’s coach, Richard Charlesworth.
“We scored one from 13 and that is pretty appalling and is obviously an area that requires attention and is disappointing. We have to spend a lot more time on that,” Charlesworth said.
“Our defence has been better over the last few days and it is an area that is critical,” Charlesworth said.
Australia shaded Malaysia for possession and maintained a high tempo of play but with lapses of quality.
“We are still too up and down and there is not an evenness to how we play and that something we have to look after. We have to have more consistent performance from everybody,” Charlesworth concluded.
Malaysia’s high strikers Faizal Saari and Ismail Abu had quality shots on goal after midfield turnovers of possession by Australia.
Australia’s midfield and backfield contributed to Malaysia’s lightning-fast counter-attacks with slow ball-speed on passes, making it easier for Malaysia to make interceptions and attack the ball carrier.
Malaysia’s coach Beng Hai Tai was delighted his 16th ranked team was able to match it with Australia ranked second in the world.“
This is a very good result for us,” Tai said.
“The boys did very well in defence today and while we conceded too many short corners we were much more in the game with possession of the ball which is what contributed to the result today,” Tai said.
Australia A plays Canada in a practice match on Tuesday and Canada and Australia play two more tests next week on Thursday and Friday.