Army men in battle mood

ARMED Forces were a feared team in the Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) a few decades ago, and are slowly working their way up to return to top-flight in a few years time.
Last season the Army men finished second in Division One, behind UiTM, and both the teams have gained promotion to the Premier Division.
The other teams in the Premier Division are Universiti KL, Maybank, Tenaga Nasional, Sapura, KL Hockey Club and Nur Insafi.
This year, there is more good news for the achievers, as the Malaysia Hockey Federation (MHF) has increased the total prize money from RM260,000 to RM340,000.
Now, the double champions in Premier and TNB Cup stand to earn RM120,000 while previously it was RM90,000.
“The Armed Forces is not ready to claim prize money yet, but I feel we are good enough to challenge for a spot in the quarter-finals (TNB Cup),” said Armed Forces coach K. Rajan.
The top-six teams in Premier Division and the top-two in Division One will play in the knock-out TNB Cup.
According to Rajan, his charges are still young but en ergetic: “We have bee training since July and there were more than 60 players then. Now, I have trimmed to squad to two teams who will play in the Premier as well as the Division One tournament.”
Half the Premier Division team is below 23-years-old: “They are slowly improving and the plan is to take the Armed Forces back to its glory days in two or three years time.” And the fact that there will not be any national players, or imports, will make it even harder for the Army men to win matches but they are hoping for a few upsets.
The Premier Division will now offer a prize money of RM60,000, RM40,000 and RM30,000. Last season it was RM30,000, RM20,000 and RM15,00.
The Division One offers RM30,000, RM20,000 and RM10,000. Previously it was RM20,000, RM15,000 and RM10,000.
The TNB Cup prize money remains at RM60,000, RM40,000, RM30,000 and RM20,000.
The Premier Division will start on Dec 17, while Division One on Dec 3 with 12 teams expected to play in a round-robin format.

MHF yet to be gripped by fever

By Jugjet Singh
jugjet@nst.com.my

COMMENT

THERE is an eerie silence leading to the Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) elections as hopefuls as well as incumbents are waiting for a clear signal before launching their campaigns.
Nominations will be sent out on Sept 23, and close on Oct 15 with the elections held on Oct 30, but till yesterday, all those who were contacted lamented on the same issue -- that there is total silence as opposed to the fierce campaigning they are used to.
The main reason, according to the officials interviewed, is that MHF president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah himself is keeping mum.
Tengku Abdullah is the fifth MHF president, with the first being Tun Abdul Razak, followed by Sultan Azlan Shah, Raja Nazrin Shah and Admiral Tan Sri Anwar Mohammad Nor.
Raja Nazrin and Anwar only served one term each, while Tengku Abdullah was shoved into the hot seat and made it known that he will only be a temporary stop-gap-measure.
However, after serving one term, he seem to be enjoying the challenge and even spearheaded an amendment which will see him in charge for four years instead of two, as he is set to be retained unopposed.
The amendments also did away elections for secretary and treasurer, who will be appointed instead, leaving only the deputy president, and four vice-presidents posts to be decided by the ballot.
Two other vice-presidents will be nominated by Sabah and Sarawak.
However, Tengku Abdullah did not have his cabinet line-up when he won unopposed in November 2008, and those who are waiting for him to announce his favourites might just find themselves in the same boat again.
And those who were contacted said they will wait as long as possible for the president to make his stand, before throwing their weight on either hopefuls or incumbents.
Nur Azmi Ahmad is the incumbent deputy-president and he has said that he will be seeking his second term, but does not know if there will be any challengers.
He beat one-term deputy president Tunku Majid Sultan Iskandar by a 12-vote margin in the last elections, and looks good enough to brush off his challengers again, unless there is a strong lobby from the very top.
The vice-presidents voted in were Datuk Dr S.S. Cheema, Datuk Rahim Ariff, Datuk Sri Che Khalib Mohamed Noh and M. Gobinathan
Among the four, Cheema has served four terms as a veep while Gobinathan will be attempting his second term.
The sound of silence is deafening, but it is a good indicator that the affiliates and incumbents all respect their president and are waiting for his orders, unlike the previous years where only the law of the jungle applied when MHF elections were around the corner.
It also means states are more cautious and only want the best, as those elected will serve four years and not the whirl- wind two.

2010 Women's Hokey World Cup

Argentina celebrate victory
Argentina celebrate victory
Argentina celebrate victory
Australia were winners of the Fair Play Award
Maartje PAUMEN (NED) - Top Goal-scorer
Rani RAMPAL (IND) - Young Player of the Tournament
Beth STORRY (ENG) - Goalkeeper of the Tournament
Sadness for The Netherlands
Luciana AYMAR (ARG) - Player of the Tournament
Argentina - 2010 BDO FIH World Cup winners

Argentine women best in world

Host nation Argentina have won the BDO FIH World Cup thanks to a 3-1 victory over The Netherlands. It was a stunning match between the two top ranked teams, but two Carla REBECCHI goals either side of a Noel BARRIONUEVO penalty corner gave Las Leonas victory over the Olympic champions.

It was a stunning night for Las Leonas, who saw their star player Luciana AYMAR named as the player of the tournament. Incredibly, AYMAR was also playing her 300th international match for Argentina, with winning the World Cup being the perfect way to crown the occasion. The best goalkeeper award went to England's Beth STORRY, who helped her side to a Bronze medal earlier in the day thanks to victory over Germany. The best young player award went to India's Rani RAMPAL, while Maartje PAUMEN was given the prize for tournament top goalscorer. Australia were the recepients of the fair play prize.
The match itself was a brilliant encounter between the two best teams in the world. Argentina were clearly inspired by their cheering crowd, going on the offensive from the first moment, and struck the opening goal when Carla REBECCHI fired into the net in only the third minute. Noel BARRIONUEVO netted a second just four minutes later to send the crowd into delerium.

Maartje PAUMEN pulled a goal back ten minutes after half time with a ferocious penalty corner flick that gave Belen SUCCI no chance of saving, hitting the roof of the net at breakneck speed. It was PAUMAN's 11th goal of the tournament, and certainly her most important to date. Argentina won a penalty corner of their own minutes later, but failed to take advantage. However, Argentina were not to be denied a third goal when Carla REBECCHI scored her second of the game, slamming home a volley from a tight angle after Alejandra GULLA hit the post with a diving shot. The goal was greeted with wild cheers and singing from the huge Argentinean following in the stadium, who were really beginning to raise the decibels to unforeseen levels at this event. Arguably the biggest roar of the night came when Belen SUCCI pulled off a stunning penalty corner save to vitually seal victory for Las Leonas. It was a special night not only for Las Leonas, but also for hockey in general, with a huge fireworks display bringing the curtain down on an incredible two weeks of action.

Match 38 - Final 1-2: Netherlands v Argentina 1-3
> Argentina are World Champions for the second time ever and for the first time since their maiden World title in 2002.
> Las Leonas are the third team to win the World Cup as hosts, joining West Germany in 1976 and the Netherlands in 1986.
> Argentina are now on 7 World Cup medals (2 gold – 3 silver – 2 bronze).
> The Netherlands are now on a record 11 World Cup medals (6 gold – 4 silver – 1 bronze).
> Argentina is the first team to beat the Netherlands three times in one year at major tournaments (Olympics, World Cup, Champions Trophy and European Nations Cup).
> Luciana Aymar, Marine Russo, Agustina Soledad Garcia and Claudia Burkart all won a third World Cup medal. They are no on 2 gold (2002, 2010) and one bronze (2006).
> Carla Rebecchi (ARG) scored twice today. She also scored in Argentina’s two Champions Trophy wins over the Netherlands at Nottingham 2010.
> Argentina have opened the score in all 7 of their matches at Rosario 2010.
> Noel Barrionuevo (ARG) scored her 6th PC goal of the tournament to become joint third on the tournament top scorer list trailing Maartje Paumen (11) and Rani Rampal (7).
> Argentina took a 2-0 lead after only 8 minutes. The last time the Dutch were 2 goals down this early in the match was 16 years ago, at the 1994 World Cup, when Germany took a 2-0 lead after only 7 minutes and went on to win 2-1.
> Tournament top scorer Maartje Paumen (NED) lifted her goals total to 12. Only Fieke Boekhorst (NED) has ever scored more goals in a World Cup tournament (13 goals in 1981).
> Maartje Paumen has scored in all 7 of Holland’s matches at Rosario 2010. The last player to score in seven successive World Cup matches was Bianca Langham-Pritchard (AUS) in 1998.
> Minke Smeets (1Gold – 3 Silvers) is now on 4 World Cup medals. The competition record is five medals by Lisette Sevens (3G – 1S – 1B) in the 1970’s and 1980’s.

Back against the wall

By Jugjet Singh
jugjet@nst.com.my

COMMENT

ITS council gets more time to do the job, its secretary and treasurer are appointed on track records and not by votes of an election and finally after five years, a gold medal from an international meet in its cupboard.
The Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) and its players seem to be heading in the right direction, and more can be expected if the 1Mas programme turns out to be a success.
The MHF elections are around the corner, Oct 30 to be precise, and who the states elect will hold the reins of hockey for the next four years and the new term will give them more time to implement programmes, or to make a bigger mess.
Council members unanimously decided to appoint their secretary and treasurer in their extraordinary general meeting last Saturday, and also agreed to extend the office term from two years to four.
That eliminates two seats from the contest, while MHF president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah will also be re-elected unopposed.
It leaves the posts of deputy president and four vice presidents to the ballot, while two more vice presidents will be appointed by Sabah and Sarawak.
The new council will then have full control of the 1Mas programme, which is a state-based project to unearth talent, and if they get full support from their affiliates, the Malaysian team should be able to produce better results than what is being achieved today.
As other than the Sea Games gold medals, which are also drying up as hosts like Vietnam, the Philippines and Laos do not include the sport, Malaysia last won a Four-Nation gold in Poland in 2005 and then the recent Five-Nation gold medal in France.
Never mind the fact that the teams we beat were all ranked below us, the fact that Malaysian hockey finally won gold is rejuvenating in itself.
Malaysia, ranked 15th, beat Ireland, Scotland, France and Poland to the Five-Nation gold medal, but just barely as all the scores were close and we were even hammered 4-1 by Ireland in one match.
But the national players can expect to have their backs to the wall when they play in the Commonwealth Games against India, Pakistan, Australia and Scotland.
After that, they have to beat mighty South Korea, India, Pakistan, China and Japan in the Asian Games if they hope to play in the 2012 London Olympics.
If they fail at the Asiad, it will be back to playing against the likes of Poland, France, Ireland and Scotland in the qualifiers.