BPSS seal last quarter spot

BANDAR Penawar Sports School (BPSS) completed the TNB Cup quarter-finals line-up when they edged Army Juniors 3-2 in Division One of the Malaysia Hockey League.
Playing at the Tun Razak Stadium, BPSS made a late surge in the last four minutes of the match to seal a spot in the last- eight but it came with a hefty price of playing Premier Division champions Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club.
Bukit Jalil Sports School, who were hoping BPSS fumble and hand them the quarters ticket, beat UNiTen 6-1 but their dreams were shattered.
The other quarter-finals line-up is between Tenaga Na sional-Armed Forces Juniors, Sapura-Maybank and Yayasan Negri Sembilan-UniKL.
The first leg will be on March 4 while the return leg on March 6, with three matches at the Tun Razak Stadium, and one at the KLHA Stadium.
BPSS coach Wan Roslan said now that they have achieved their target, they will play to keep the score down.
“Our target was to play in the last-eight and qualify for the Premier Division next season and we achieved it. And now, we will play top keep the score down, as KLHC are in the league of their own,” admitted Roslan.
The other lopsided quarter-finals will be between Tenaga Nasional and Armed Forces Juniors.
Army won nine, drew two and lost only one in Division one, but they are a poor mismatch against Charity Shield holders Tenaga.
“We need to buck up in defense, as our four defeats were the result of poor marking. And we can’t afford that against a team like KLHC.”
BPSS took the lead off Syafik Nordin in the third minute, but then let in two quick goals which were scored by Junaidi Ghazali in the 55th and Khairi Mansor in the 60th minute.
However, a fight-back in the 64th minute saw Amir Zulkarnain equalising, while Afzanizam Zakaria scord the winner for BPSS in the 67th minute.
Today, the Premier Division teams will complete their fixtures in Malacca, but all the matches have no bearing, except for the KLHC-TNB match.
KLHC lost the Charity Shield to TNB, their only defeat this season, and it could turn into a sizzling affair.
DIVISION ONE -- Results: Bukit Jalil Sports School 6 UniTen 1, Armed Forces Juniors 2 Bandar Penawar Sports School 3.
PREMIER DIVISION: TODAY -- UniKL v UiTm (5pm), Maybank v Yayasan Negri Sembilan (4pm), Sapura v Armed Forces-Airod (6pm), Tenaga Nasional v Kuala Lumpur Hock ey Club (8pm).
* All matches at the Malacca Stadium.

PREMIER DIVISION
P W D L F A Pt
KLHC 15 13 1 1 72 20 40
TNB 15 11 1 3 46 17 34
SAPURA 15 10 0 5 43 28 30
UNIKL 15 8 3 4 27 27 27
YNS 15 7 0 8 44 41 21
MAYBANK 15 4 3 8 18 25 15
NUR INSAFI 16 4 2 10 27 51 14
UITM 15 3 0 12 21 50 9
ATM 15 3 0 12 18 57 9

DIVISION ONE
P W D L F A Pt
ATM JNR 12 9 2 1 31 12 29
BPSS 12 8 0 4 27 19 24
BJSS 12 7 1 4 33 15 22
MALACCA CC 12 5 1 6 16 16 16
IPOH CH 12 4 3 5 19 24 15
USM 12 3 0 9 18 36 9
UNITEN 12 1 3 8 12 34 6

Kaymer for Maybank Malaysian Open

MAYBANK today announced that German golf sensation, Martin Kaymer will add to the headlines of the 156-men playing field at the Maybank Malaysian Open 2011 alongside South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel and Ireland’s Rory McIlroy at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club from 14 -17 April 2011.
Kaymer, 26, is currently ranked no. 2 in the world after recently claiming his third Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship title in four years to add to his three individual titles in 2010. He was also a member of the winning European Ryder Cup Team. He became the first player since Tiger Woods in 2006 to win three successive tournaments in a year and the first European to achieve this feat since Nick Faldo in 1989.

Shallow talent pool

Comment by Jugjet Singh

GOOD hockey players are a dying breed in Malaysia — as they say “figures do not lie, while liars do not figure” and that says it all.
Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) statistics for both the Premier Division and Division One spells it out boldly that if there was no infusion of foreign players, the Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) would have been a two-horse affair after the first round.
Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club (KLHC) and Tenaga Nasional finished 1-2 respectively after they had signed the lion’s share of national players.
KLHC also had two good buys in former national players Ismail Abu (10 goals) and Chua Boon Huat (13) who contributed 23 out of their 72 total.
They also had national No 2 penalty corner flicker Razie Rahim to thank as his 20 goals virtually sealed the title for them.
Tenaga Nasional, who scored a total of 46 goals, relied heavily on national No 1 penalty corner flicker Amin Rahim who scored 17. National player Faizal Saari was the next best for TNB, with nine goals.
With the local goal-scoring machines booked, that left teams like Sapura, UniKL, Yayasan Negri Sembilan and Nur Insafi with no choice but to source for import players as the leftovers were either over the hill, or making their debut in the MHL.
And that was the major grouse of almost all MHL coaches as they know that the situation will be the same next season.
The scene in Division One is worse and can be likened to a ‘B’ Grade movie, as Army Juniors are just an average team but managed to win the League title without a single defeat but it came with a heavy price. They must play Tenaga Nasional in the quarter-finals.
One does not need to be Nostradamus to predict that it is going to be a lop-sided match with TNB having a heavy advantage.
The second spot in Division One is a toss between the Bukit Jalil and Bandar Penawar sports schools in the last fixtures on Friday, but joy will be short-lived as the winners must play KLHC in the last eight — where nothing but a drubbing awaits the school boys.
UiTM and Armed Forces-Airod, who gained promotion last season, find themselves back in Division One for next year after finishing eighth and ninth respectively in their Premier debut.
And the two teams who will be promoted next year, will again face a torrid time in the Premier Division as nothing but defeats and relegation await them as there will again be insufficient good local talent for them to form decent sides.
The future of the MHL is predictable, as figures do not lie.

Sports Schools in race for second spot

IT WILL be a race of the sports schools next weekend to see who finishes second in Division One and qualify for the quarter-finals of the Malaysia Hockey League.
Armed Forces Juniors, who already cemented the top spot last weekend, took it easy against bottom placed UniTen and played to a 2-2 draw yesterday.
However, Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS) beat Malacca City Council 3-1, while Bandar Penawar Sports School (BPSS) beat Universiti Sains Malaysia 3-2 to take the second spot battle to the wire on Friday.
BPSS now have 21 points, while BJSS 19 and they will be playing Army Juniors and UniTen to set-up a date with League champions Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club (KLHC) in the last eight.
Division one champions Army Juniors have already sealed their fate against Charity Shield champions Tenaga Nasional in the quarter-finals.
And in the Premier Division, it will be a holiday in Malacca for the top-two teams, as they have already sealed their fates with one match to spare.
But the Tenaga Nasional v Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club match could turn out to be a thriller, as both teams prepare for the knock-out and KLHC having a score to settle for losing the Charity Shield to the utility giants in the first match of the season.
KLHC received RM60,000 for winning the title, while Tenaga Nasional RM40,000 for finishing second.
“My players not only deserve credit for winning the League title, but also the money that came with it. KLHC will not take a cut, and the players and team management will share all the spoils,” said KLHC team manager George Koshy.
With money in the bag, KLHC players will now strive to seal the TNB Cup title as well, as the club has five League titles but only one Overall title to show.
DIVISION ONE: Results: Malacca CC 1 Bukit Jalil Sports School 3, Universiti Sains Malaysia 2 Bandar Penawar Sports School 3, UniTen 2 Armed Forces Juniors 2.
Feb 25: Bukit Jalil Sports School v UniTen (Ministry of Education Stadium, 5pm), Armed Forces Juniors v Bandar Penawar Sports School (Tun Razak Stadium, 5pm).
PREMIER DIVISION: Feb 26 -- UniKL v UiTm (5pm), Maybank v Yayasan Negri Sembilan (4pm), Sapura v Armed Forces-Airod (6pm), Tenaga Nasional v Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club (8pm).

PREMIER DIVISION
P W D L F A Pt
KLHC 15 13 1 1 72 20 40
TNB 15 11 1 3 46 17 34
SAPURA 15 10 0 5 43 28 30
UNIKL 15 8 3 4 27 27 27
YNS 15 7 0 8 44 41 21
MAYBANK 15 4 3 8 18 25 15
NUR INSAFI 16 4 2 10 27 51 14
UITM 15 3 0 12 21 50 9
ATM 15 3 0 12 18 57 9

DIVISION ONE
P W D L F A Pt
ATM JNR 11 9 2 0 29 9 29
BPSS 11 7 0 4 24 17 21
BJSS 11 6 1 4 27 14 19
MALACCA CC 12 5 1 6 16 16 16
IPOH CH 12 4 3 5 19 24 15
USM 12 3 0 9 18 36 9
UNITEN 11 1 3 7 11 28 6

That's the spirit mate...

By: The Associated Press 02/19/11 6:39 PM

The Associated Press

By: AP Photo/Jon Super

A splinter is seen through the leg of Malaysia's Azizulhasni Awang after a crash in the Men's Keirin Final during the Track Cycling World Cup at the National Cycling Centre, Manchester, England, Saturday Feb. 19, 2011. Awang finished third in the race.

Azizulhasni Awang won a bronze medal at cycling's Track World Cup, and boy, did he ever earn it.
The Malaysian rider managed to get back on his bike after a dramatic crash in Saturday's Keirin final and stagger across the line, but it was only afterward that the full extent of his injury became clear.
Pictures showed a large splinter of wood had gone right through his left calf.
Awang was promoted to third after Spanish rider Juan Peralta Gascon was disqualified. But Awang missed his moment on the podium because he was on his way to a hospital.