KLHC still in control

KUALA Lumpur Hockey Club (KLHC) bungled a
handful of sitters, but still walked away 3-2 winners
against Maybank in the Premier Division of the
Malaysia Hockey League yesterday.
KLHC, who drew 2-2 with Maybank in the first
round, are now poised to lift the League title if they
win at least three of their remaining five matches.
Yesterday, Razie Rahim started the count with a
penalty corner attempt in the seventh minute, while
Ahmad Anuar Sham made it 2-0 in the 11th minute
off a field attempt.
However, Maybank pulled one back in the 15th
minute when N. Ugentheren scored off a soft field
attempt.
National player Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin saved the
blushes for KLHC with a sizzling top-of-the-net shot
in the 41st minute, as Maybank won a penalty
corner in the 70th minute and Tengku's goal turned
crucial.
Engku Malek made it 2-3 for Maybank off the last
attempt, but time ran out for his side.
"My players found it hard to concentrate because
the heat was unbearable (the match started at
3.30pm), but still, we did enough to keep the title in
sight.
"Now, if other teams falter, we might just win the
title with a few matches to spare. But even then, if
we keep the momentum and win three more
matches (out of remaining five), we will be at the
top of the podium anyway," said KLHC coach K.
Dharmaraj.
Maybank were a jaded side, as their main
defender K. Gobinathan and penalty corner flicker
Hairul Nizam were suspended for this match after
picking up maximum demerit points.
In another match, Sapura delt a blow to Yayasan
Negri Sembilan's dreams by edging them 2-1.
The first half was scoreless, but just after the
rain-delayed re-start, Sapura nailed the lead off
Izwan Firdaus in the 39th minute, but YNS equalised
off Deepak Thakur in the 46th minute.
Former national skipper S. Kuhan delived the
killer blow when he nailed the winner for Sapura in
the 49th minute off a penalty corner attempt.
RESULTS: Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club 3 Maybank
2, Yayasan Negri Sembilan 1 Sapura 2, Armed
Forces-Airod 1 UniKL 2, UiTM 3 Nur Insafi 2.
FIXTURES -- Premier Division: Today: UiTM v
Sapura (Tun Razak Stadium, 4pm), Nur Insafi v
UniKL (Tun Razak Stadium, 6pm), Yayasan Negri
Sembilan v Tenaga Nasional (Tun Razak Stadium,
8pm), Armed Forces-Airod v Maybank (KLHA, 5pm).
Division One -- Today: Bandar Penawar Sports
School v Ipoh City Hall (Bandar Penawar, 5pm),
Malacca City Council v Armed Forces Juniors
(Malacca, 5pm), Universiti Sains Malaysia v UniTen
(USM, 5pm).

STANDINGS

PREMIER DIVISION
Armed

P W D L F A Pt
KLHC 11 9 1 1 50 17 28
UNIKL 11 7 2 2 20 15 23
YNS 11 7 0 4 36 24 21
TNB 10 6 1 3 21 12 19
SAPURA 10 6 0 4 29 20 18
NUR INSAFI 11 4 1 6 20 32 13
MAYBANK 10 1 3 6 9 17 6
ATM 11 2 0 9 11 34 6
UITM 11 2 0 9 17 41 6

DIVISION ONE
P W D L F A Pt
ATM JNR 7 6 1 0 20 4 19
BJSS 7 4 0 3 15 8 12
BPSS 6 4 0 2 12 10 12
IPOH CH 8 3 2 3 14 16 11
MALACCA CC 7 3 0 4 10 9 9
USM 7 2 0 5 9 22 6
UNITEN 6 0 1 5 3 14 1

Chua Boon Huat to the rescue

KUALA LUMPUR Hockey Club (KLHC) will be banking on veteran striker Chua Boon Huat (pic) to do the damages against Maybank in the Premier Division of the malaysia Hockey League today.
Chua, 30, has been in super form to outshine his more younger team-mates by scoring 10 out of KLHC’s 47 goals to keep his team at the top of the standings.
He represented the country for 11 years, and earned 306 caps after making his international debut in the 1998 Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games. His last international outing was in the 2009 Champions Challenge II tournament in Ireland.
When asked if he is willing to don national colours again: “I am still fit and have proven myself in the MHL, but I don’t think I will receive a national training recall because of certain reasons which I don’t want to talk about.”
However, he is still in his prime and ready to help his club win the League title.
“We are in a good position to win the league title, provided we do not drop points in the remaining matches. It will not be easy, but I will give my best in every match,” said Chua.
KLHC coach K. Dharmaraj described the Maybank match as crucial, but not necessarily easy.
“It is never easy playing a team like Maybank, who have some good seniors and upcoming juniors in their side. I will plan to maintain our winning streak, but it would be foolish to take matters easy against Maybank,” said Dharmaraj.
KLHC have some of the best players in the country like Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin, Azlan Misron, Kelvinder Singh and Ismail Abu to feed their hit-man Chua, who is expecetd to deliver again against Maybank today.
Second placed Yayasan Negri Sembilan are only four points adrift of KLHC, and if they beat Sapura today, they have a realistic chance of wresting the title from the leaders as teams have five more matches to play after this weekend before the champion is decided.
FIXTURES -- Premier Division: Today: Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club v Maybank (3.30pm), Yayasan Negri Sembilan v Sapura (5.15pm), Armed Forces-Airod v UniKL (7pm), UiTM v Nur Insafi (8.45pm).
* All matches at the Tun Razak Stadium.
Tomorrow: UiTM v Sapura (Tun Razak Stadium, 4pm), Nur Insafi v UniKL (Tun Razak Stadium, 6pm), Yayasan Negri Sembilan v Tenaga Nasional (Tun Razak Stadium, 8pm), Armed Forces-Airod v Maybank (KLHA, 5pm).
Tomorrow: Division One: Bandar Penawar Sports School v Ipoh City Hall (Bandar Penawar, 5pm), Malacca City Council v Armed Forces Juniors (Malacca, 5pm), Universiti Sains Malaysia v UniTen (USM, 5pm).

STANDINGS

PREMIER DIVISION

P W D L F A Pt
KLHC 10 8 1 1 47 15 25
YNS 10 7 0 3 35 22 21
UNIKL 10 6 2 2 18 14 20
TNB 10 6 1 3 21 12 19
SAPURA 9 5 0 4 27 19 15
NUR INSAFI 10 4 1 5 18 30 13
MAYBANK 9 1 3 5 7 14 6
ATM-AIROD 10 2 0 8 10 32 6
UITM 10 1 0 9 14 39 3

DIVISION ONE
P W D L F A Pt
ATM JNR 7 6 1 0 20 4 19
BJSS 7 4 0 3 15 8 12
BPSS 6 4 0 2 12 10 12
IPOH CH 8 3 2 3 14 16 11
MALACCA CC 7 3 0 4 10 9 9
USM 7 2 0 5 9 22 6
UNITEN 6 0 1 5 3 14 1

Making amends with recognition and goal-setting

By Jugjet Singh
jugjet@nstp.com.my

COMMENT

THE Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) president and council members finally congratulated national No 1 goalkeeper S. Kumar, and as a sweetener, the council also endorsed a RM5,000 bonus for him.
Kumar was named Best Player in Asia by the Asian Hockey Federation, and was also selected as an Asian-All Star player on Jan 15, but he was neither informed about it by the MHF, nor congratulated after the news was published.
However, MHF was better late than never in recognising his talent last Saturday.
The reward and a congratulatory note will be given to him when the Premier Division League champions are decided at the Malacca Stadium and MHF president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah will do the honours.
And the second "better late than never" was when the council set themselves and their players with clear short and long-term goals -- and they duly endorsed it.
The federation has been running without any direction or goals, but has now set five targets to achieve with the intention of developing world class players and officials to bring glory to the nation.
The federation's goals are:
1 Achieving international success at highest level via a road map and journey with targets
2 Lifting the profile of the game at school level in collaboration with the Ministry of Education.
3 Attracting and keeping young Malaysians in the game through 'Project Hockey 1MAS'
4 Governing the sport effectively
5 Broaden MHF's income base
The plan is long overdue, as Malaysia last played in the 2000 Sydney Olympics and the 2002 Kuala Lumpur World Cup. Since then, we have failed to qualify for two Olympics and two World Cups in the past eight years.
With the federation having set itself clear goals, the national junior and senior teams were also handed their respective targets with the objective of qualifying by virtue, and not by chance.
Malaysia are ranked 15th in the world, and the only way to break into the top 10, which is the president's target, is to play in the World Cup and Olympics.
• Short-term targets (2011-2012):
1 FIH Champion Challenge 1 - top 5 (among eight teams)
2 2012 Olympics - uphill task to qualify via current FIH Olympic system of three qualifiers with only the champions qualifying.
3 Qualifying for Junior World Cup 2013.
4 World ranking from 11 to 13.
• Medium targets (2013-2017):
1 2013 Asia Cup - top 3
2 Qualify for 2014 World Cup via new FIH world series format.
3 2013 Junior World Cup - 8th to 10th.
4 2014 World Cup - 8th to 11th
5 2014 Asian Games - top 3
6 2016 Olympics - 8th to 11th position via new FIH world series format.
7 2017 Junior World Cup - 6th to 8th.
• LONG-term - more than five years
1 2018 World Cup - top 8
2 2020 Olympics - top 8
3 2021 Junior World Cup - 6th to 8th
The MHF has set itself and the players stiff, but gradual targets. But the dream to break into the top 10 can only be realised if the state affiliates develop their own set of actions in support of the overall national goals.

New Straits Times

Forlorn and bruising Kuantan

KUANTAN turned out to be a forlorn and bruising experience for teams and coaches playing in the Premier Division of the Malaysia Hockey League over the weekend.
For starters, the stands at the Kuantan Stadium were empty, except for players and match officials, as the fans gave it a wide berth.
The Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) took the Premier Division to states for the second season, and only Penang has seen a good fan turn-out both times.
Ipoh and Kuantan only attracted a handful of die-hard fans, and it did not serve the purpose of taking top-level hockey to the states.
And the Taman Daya Stadium in Johor Baru, slated to play host in the middle of February, received a knock-out blow as thieves carted away fuse boxes to the stadium lights. The matches will noe be held at the Tun Razak Stadium instead.
The weekend also saw Tenaga Nasional and Malaysia's No 1 goalkeeper S. Kumar fracturing his ribs, after taking a powerful reverse stick shot in the chest from Izzat Rahim of Sapura.
Tenaga not only lost the match 2-0 to further drop into the abyss, but also their best goalkeeper.
"It was an unfortunate incident, as the ball hit Kumar where he was not protected by hs gear. He will be out for at least three weeks, and now we have to rely on our second goalkeeper (Fairus Wanazir)," said Tenaga coach Nor Saiful Zaini.
But Kumar is made of sturdier stuff, and can't wait to get back into the thick of action.
"I tried to avoid the ball as it came directly to just below my neck where I have no proctetion. But it hit me square and I suffered a hair-line fracture on one of my ribs.
"It hurts, but I feel I can still play and if the coach gives me a chance, I will be back in no time to help my club," said Kumar who was awarded the Best Goalkeeper in Asia by the Asian Hockey Federation two weeks ago.
There was another casualty in Kuantan, as Armed Forces-Airod shook hands with their coach K. Rajan and parted ways after their match against Yayasan Negri sembilan on Saturday.
"The Forces management felt that the team underperformed after eight matches, and told me that they no longer needed my services.
"I have no qualms with them, but I feel we have done reasonally well considering that we have no national or foreign palyers but still managed to win six points just like seasoned MHL team Maybank," said Rajan who coaches the 2009 Junior World Cup team to 12th among 20 nations.
Meanwhile, Armed Forces Juniors extended their lead to seven points when they hammered Universiti Sains Malaysia 5-1 in Division One of the Malaysia Hockey League yesterday.

DIVISION ONE: Sunday -- Ipoh City Council 2 Bukit Jalil Sports School 1, Bandar Penawar Sports School v Malacca CC (rained off), Armed Forces Juniors 5 Universiti Sains Malaysia 1.

DIVISION ONE
P W D L F A Pt
ATM JNR 7 6 1 0 20 4 19
BJSS 7 4 0 3 15 8 12
BPSS 6 4 0 2 12 10 12
IPOH CH 8 3 2 3 14 16 11
MALACCA CC 7 3 0 4 10 9 9
USM 7 2 0 5 9 22 6
UNITEN 6 0 1 5 3 14 1

Another Stahr-ry nite for UniKL

PHILIPP Stahr shone like a beacon to guide UniKL
to a last-minute victory against Maybank in the
Premier Division of the Malaysia Hockey League at
the Kuantan Stadium yesterday.
The highly charged match, which saw six yellow
cards being flashed, was heading towards a 1-1
draw but a last minute penalty corner gave full
points to the university side.
UniKL's German import Kevin Lim gave them the
lead with a 39th minute penalty corner but
39-year-old former international Chairil Anwar
equalised for Maybank with a 55th minute field goal.
The match turned robust after that, and six five
were flashed the yellow card to cool down the
situation.
From Maybank, K. Gobinathan (35th), Riduan
Nasir (66th) and Hairul Nizam (41st) were flashed
the yellow, as for UniKL, Khairil Anuar saw yellow
twice (in the 47th and 59th minutes) while Syamin
Yusof was sent out in the (59th).
And just when Maybank were ready to celebrate
their hard-fough draw, UniKL won a penalty corner
in the 70th minute and Stahr flicked in the winner.
Maybank coach Wallace Tan attributed his team's
erratic form to injuries, and inexperienced juniors.
"I am not making excuses forour worst season in
a decade, but we have been bogged down by a
string of injuries, six players to be precise, and have
also fielded five juniors who lack match
experience," said Wallace.
Among those injured are Maybank's only national
player Hafifi Hafiz: "The young players made some
basic mistakes which led to goals being scored
against us. But I am still giving them maximum
time, because I am looking at the next season,
where hopefully they will become more confident."
Tenaga Nasional bounced back from a 2-0 defeat
to Sapura on Friday to hammer Nur Insafi 5-2.
Amin Rahim, the best flicker in the country,
delivered a hat-trick in the 25th, 47th and 55th
minutes, while the other goals were scored by
Faizal Saari (58th, 67th).
However, TNB coach Nor Saiful Zaini was far
from satisfied with their campaign so far.
"We are too far back to chase the leaders (KLHC)
and our mission now is to finish second and avoid
KLHC in the quarter-finals draw.
"I am happy with today (yesterday) but we lost
out against Sapura, UniKL and YNS. And in the last
two matches we had 12 penalty corners but failed
to score a single goal, even though we have the
best flicker in the country.
"It looks like winning the Leaue title is out of our
hands, and we must plan for the TNB Cup from
now," said Saiful, a former national skipper.
In another match, Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club
(KLHC) rested many key players against UITM, but
still won 6-1 with ease to strenghten their grip at
the top of the standings.

STANDINGS
PREMIER DIVISION
P W D L F A Pt
KLHC 10 8 1 1 47 15 25
YNS 10 7 0 3 35 22 21
UNIKL-TRC 10 6 2 2 18 14 20
TNB 10 6 1 3 21 12 19
SAPURA 9 5 0 4 27 19 15
NUR INSAFI 10 4 1 5 18 30 13
MAYBANK 9 1 3 5 7 14 6
ATM-AIROD 10 2 0 8 10 32 6
UITM 10 1 0 9 14 39 3

DIVISION ONE
P W D L F A Pt
ATM JNR 6 5 1 0 15 3 16
BPSS 6 4 0 2 12 10 12
BJSS 6 4 0 2 14 6 12
MALACCA CC 7 3 0 4 10 9 9
IPOH CH 7 2 2 3 12 15 8
USM 6 2 0 4 8 17 6
UNITEN 6 0 1 5 3 14 1

PREMIER DIVISION: RESULTS: Maybank 1 UniKL 2,
Tenaga Nasional 5 Nur Insafi 2, Kuala Lumpur
Hockey Club 6 UiTM 1, Yayasan Negri Sembilan 3
Armed Forces-Airod 1.
DIVISION ONE: Sunday -- Ipoh City Council v Bukit
Jalil Sports School (Azlan Shah Stadium, 5pm),
Bandar Penawar Sports School v Malacca CC
(Bandar Penawar, 5pm), Armed Forces Juniors v
Universiti Sains Malaysia (Tun Razak Stadium, 5pm).