Malaysia in Under-18 semis

MALAYSIA will play South Korea in the Semi-finals of the Under-18 Asia Cup tomorrow (20/11/09) while Pakistan meet Japan.
The champion will play in the Youth Olympics in Singapore in August.
Due to lack of information on the tournament regular updates were made impossible. The Asian Hockey Federation and Myanmar Hockey Federation websites are dead.

We just failed to act

Comment By JUGJET SINGH

Pic: Malaysian goalkeeper S. Kumar did not fail to be named as the Best Goalkeeper for the seventh time in Invercargill.

MALAYSIA failed yet again to qualify for a major hockey tournament, but the Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) is not going to fail in writing reports and making recommendations on what to do next.
And then, like always, there will be a failure to act on the reports and recommendations, making it a futile exercise.
The recent fall started after Malaysia ended 12th in the 2001 Junior World Cup in Tasmania, and many volumes were written with even a hockey blueprint coming into the picture but nothing came out of it.
The hockey loving public knows, but the MHF refuse to acknowledge, that the talent pool is fast drying up, and as a result, we did not have depth on the bench for coach Tai Beng Hai to select for Invercargill.
Twelve players from the 2005 Junior World Cup squad became regulars with the seniors, but only three were drafted from the recent Johor Baru Junior World Cup.
And in Invercargill, the 2005 batch held on well as Kelvinder Singh, Razie Rahim, S. Selvaraju, Jivan Mohan, Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin, Shukri Mutalib, C. Baljit Singh, Fiqri Nabil and Khairulnizam Ibrahim played well and were the pillars in their departments.
(Only goalkeeper Khairulnizam did not get a chance to play as S. Kumar was in top flight).
But from the 2009 batch only Faizal Saari, Marhan Jalil and Ahmad Kazamirul were good enough to play alongside the seniors. Faizal scored three goals to justify his selection, while the other two warmed the bench.
So only one player, Faizal, who scored eight goals in the Junior World Cup, can be relied from the new crop. It is simple mathematics, which even the MHF should be able to understand.
Many are expected to bay for blood, and form a posse to remove coaches, players, officials, and the blame game might even hit the nutritionist right up to the cook who was in New Zealand.
They will fail to realise that the failure to qualify for New Delhi is a shared responsibility, because the MHF council members are the bigwigs in their states, and the rot started from their end.
The initial plan was to hire Beng Hai as an interim coach while the MHF look for a foreign coach to handle the reign. And when no foreigner with a credible reputation wanted anything to do with the erratic Malaysian players, Beng Hai was stuck with it.
The coach, a former international from Taiping, was in charge for the Azlan Shah Cup, the Asia Cup, the Champions Challenge II and the World Cup Qualifier.
A silver in Azlan Shah, fourth in Asia Cup, fourth in Champions Challenge II and second in the Qualifier is what Beng Hai achieved with the material that he had.
Lets face it, even with a foreigner, the results would not have changed much with the present batch of players.
The MHF will review Beng Hai’s performance for the year and they might even hire a foreign coach to prepare Malaysia for the 2012 Olympics qualifier.
But hiring a foreigner will not be easy, as nobody wants to coach a bunch of losers. So, stick to the other option that was discussed in January -- bring in top coaches on an ad-hoc basis to sharpen the strikers, the defenders, and the goal keepers.
Keep the local as chief coach, and seriously start grooming the 2013 Project squad by sending them to play in Europe leagues.
The next assignments are the 2010 Commonwealth and Asian Games.
Built on the failure, and stop writing reports, as nothing is going to come out of them but more failures like what happened after the 2004 Olympic Qualifiers in Madrid, the 2006 World Cup Qualifiers in China and the 2008 Olympic Qualifiers in Japan -- to name a few..

A full time failure

Comment By Vijesh Rai
(NST Sports Editor)

WHAT next for Malaysian hockey?
Yesterday's defeat to New Zealand, no matter how we choose to see it, means Malaysia now have the sad record of having missed two consecutive World Cups and Olympics, which drives home hard the fact that we can no longer claim to be a world power.
This has been the case for some time now but, having played at the highest level several times, we always hoped that the players would be able to turn it around and regain lost pride in Invercargill, New Zealand.
But we knew, even when Tai Beng Hai's men beat China to qualify for the World Cup Qualifier final, that defeat was the most likely outcome for Malaysia against New Zealand and the team didn't disappoint.
Sure, the players fought hard and were mere minutes away from lining up alongside the cream of hockey in the New Delhi World Cup next February but, as much as the hardcore supporters choose to see the positives, it is the end result that matters which means the team failed.
Hockey isn't a sport which Malaysia has just taken up for it is part of the big three alongside badminton and football and the support it enjoys -- financial and otherwise -- is on par with the other two.
Millions are spent yearly on hockey and all the sport has to show in 2009 is the failure of the seniors to win a World Cup berth and a poor performance by the Juniors in their own World Cup.
Help, it would seem then, isn't going to be forthcoming from this year's Junior World Cup squad, something which the Malaysian Hockey Federation seems resigned to given the hope it has placed on the 2013 Project squad.
But this approach, and Malaysia's recent history has proven this several times over, is not going to get hockey, nor any other sport, out of the rut it is in.
Depending on just one group of players is never going to be enough no matter what MHF does, even if the squad is in full time training.
MHF president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah should be fully aware of this with his FA of Malaysia experience, where millions were spent on project teams with nothing much gained.
Only a handful, if there are even that, still take this approach for so competitive is sport today that it doesn't make sense for a national team to train full time and play only in friendly matches and invitational tournaments.
It is in domestic leagues, which are of high quality, where players hone their skills and fight for national team selection. There is no room for complacency, which sadly is the case for most Malaysian sports no thanks to this belief that once an athlete is in a national programme, it is extremely difficult to drop him or her.
This may have worked for Malaysia when the country first went big in sports after winning the bid to host the 1998 Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games but that was 13 years ago and most, if not all, from that batch of athletes have departed the scene.
The full time training approach should have also ended with that batch of athletes but it didn't and hockey is a classic example of how the system has gone wrong.
Malaysia won silver in the 1998 Commonwealth Games, qualified for the 2000 Sydney Olympics and hosted the 2002 World Cup but since then, it has been downhill -- we missed the 2004 and 2008 Olympics and the 2010 World Cup is now alongside the edition we failed to qualify for in 2006.
The next big target will be the London Olympics Qualifier but MHF doesn't take action now and improve its structure, widen the selection base and have quality leagues across the board, we can be sure that what happened in Invercargill yesterday will happen again with the only difference being the venue.

13 minutes turn into lifetime agony

MALAYSIA failed to qualify for the New Delhi World Cup when they were edged 2-1 by New Zealand in Invercargill yesterday.
However, the match was a heart-stopper, as Malaysia took the match to the higher ranked Kiwis and even scored an early goal, only to lose on penalty corers.
Malaysia shocked New Zealand, who started sluggishly, by scoring an 18th minute penalty corner goal. Amin Rahim made a dummy and passed it to Razie Rahim, who flicked in the lead.
And then three were a string of chances, including three more consecutive penalty corners, but Malaysia failed to increase the lead and paid the price.
New Zealand came back into the match in the second half, and the energetic Malaysian side started to fade away as the clocked ticked by, and it was only a matter of time before the World Cup ticket was snatched from their grasp, 13 minutes before the flight took off.
Andrew Hayward scored a soft penalty corner attempt in the 57th minute, which caught Malaysian goalkeeper S. Kumar by surprise, as it went in between his pads.
And with the equaliser, came a series of blunders from the Malaysian side and the Kiwis earned another penalty corner in the 60th minute, which Hayward tucked in to take his team into the World Cup.
“We had a super start, and then three consecutive penalty corners came our way but the boys failed to connect. That was the turning point which led to our defeat,” said assistant team manager M. Gobinathan.
Gobinathan, however, feels the team gave their best but it was not enough: “I feel for players like Kumar and Madzli Ikmar who are in their 30s and probably will not get another chance to play in the World Cup.
“They gave their best, and personally speaking, coaches Tai Beng Hai and Nor Saiful Zaini worked very hard to transform a few hopeless players to do well here.
“I would recommend, in my report, that both the coaches be retained in the national outfit,” said Gobinathan.
Beng Hai coached the team on an interim basis, and the Malaysian Hockey Federation had said that his future de pends on the team’s performance in Invercargill.
Meanwhile, New Zealand coach Shane McLeod said on NZ TV: “Malaysia played very well. They gained a lot from the earlier game. They did their homework and cancelled out a lot of things we were succeeding with.
“They’re really difficult if you fall behind by a goal, they defend with a lot of passion.”
McLeod thought the ease of New Zealand’s cruise to the final also hindered their performance.
“They weren’t tested a lot over the week and sometimes it gets a little bit hard to keep trying to lift yourself above other teams.
“With Malaysia getting a goal against the run of play we were in a situation we hadn't faced.”
And were the team inspired by their soccer players who had qualified for the World Cup the night before?
“My players watched, and were inspired by, the All Whites’ 1-0 win over Bahrain. All sports get motivated by the success of others, I think it assisted us with out campaign.”
RESULTS: Final -- Malaysia 1 New Zealand 2; Third- Fourth: China 2 Scotland 2 (Scotland win 5-3 on penalty strokes); Fifth-Sixth: Austria 3 Wales 2.

We blew it...

THE Black Sticks Men capped off a fantastic weekend for New Zealand sport becoming the second team in two days to qualify for a World Cup.

New Zealand came from behind to beat Malaysia 2 – 1 today in freezing Invercargill conditions, in the final of the BDO World Cup Qualifier.

The Black Sticks were down 1 – 0 with 13 minutes to play and looked well and truly shaken by the gutsy Malaysians, who had scored from a penalty corner in the 18th minute. The Malaysians defended very well, particularly at the top of the circle, dispossessing the New Zealand strike force which had run rampant up until the final scoring 28 goals in five games.

Break through player Andy Hayward, scored both of the New Zealand goals, from penalty corner drag flicks in the 57th and 60th minute.

Black Sticks Men’s Coach Shane McLeod said after the match his feeling was mainly one of relief: “A final is tough when there is such a prize at stake,” he said. “I don’t think we played overly well. We haven’t been challenged through the tournament and Malaysia could taste they had an opportunity.”

McLeod played tribute to Hayward’s efforts: “We have put a lot of work into Andy and I am so pleased for him. When you flick well often your hockey goes the same way.”
The World Cup will be held in New Delhi, India, next Febuary.

New Zealand 2 (Andy Hayward 2) Malaysia 1 (Razie Abd Rahim) H:T 1 – 0 Malaysia
Scotland 5 (Stephen Dick, Kenneth Bain) China 3 (Yixian Liu, Fengui Lu) (penalty strokes extra time, after score tied 2 – 2 full time. )
Austria 3 (Georg Jelinek 2, Michael Korper) Wales 2 (Benjamin Croxall, Matthew Ruxton) H:T 2 – 0 Wales

Final placings
1st New Zealand
2nd Malaysia
3rd Scotland
4th China
5th : Austria
6th : Wales

Awards
Player of the Tournament – Ryan Archibald (New Zealand)
Goal Keeper of the Tournament – S Kumar (Malaysia)
Top Goal Scorer – Andy Hayward (New Zealand)
Fairplay – Scotland

Source hockeynz.co.nz