UNIKL Young Guns are aiming for a semi-finals spot in the Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) which will begin on Aug 1.
And to achieve their target, they are in the midst of hiring a foreign drag-flicker.
With only six teams in the Premier Division, UniKL who finished sixth last season, will be jostling for the semis with double champions Terengganu Hockey Team, Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club, Sapura, Tenaga Nasional and Maybank.
UniKL coach Arul Selvaraj will be banking on four national players who played in the recently concluded World League Semifinals in Antwerp.
"All four of them (Haziq Samsul, Baljit Singh, Izwan Firdaus, Meor Azuan) had an exceptional tournament and will be out main players this season. We hope to break into the semi-finals circle, it wont be easy, but we are ready to give our best," said Arul.
Arul, who is also Project 2016 coach, has roped in 10 from the Junior World Cup trainees to play for UniKL.
Players like Sufi Ismat, Zul Pidaus Mizun, Maxhans Christi, Ashran Hamsani, Azwar Rahman, Najmi Farizal, Nor Azrul and Ezry Mustafa will turn out for UniKL, and will also represent Malaysia in the Junior Asia Cup in Kuantan in November.
"We are also in the midst of signing up two foreign players, but I can't name them yet because negotiations are ongoing. All I can say is that one if from South Africa and the other from Germany.
"And one of them is a penalty corener drag flicker. We won many penalty corners, even against the best teams in the MHL last season, but our conversion rate was very low and thats why we finished last.
"Hopefully, if we manage to sign the foreign drag flicker, things will chance for the better," said Arul.
For the record, last season saw UniKL bundled out of the quarter-finals stage for the sixth-year running.
Sunday, July 12, 2015
Saturday, July 11, 2015
Terengganu keep foreign signing under wraps..
MALAYSIA hockey League double champions Terengganu HT have signed the best national players in the country, and are now looking for at least four quality foreign players to defend their title starting Aug 1.
Terengganu HT coach Sarjt Singh, however, is still keeping the foreign signing close to his heart.
"We signed five Koreans last year but they are not available because the MHL clashes with their domestic league. I have approached players from another country and am in the midst of securing their contracts.
"All I can say right now is that they are good players, and will be helpful in defending both our titles," said Sarjit Singh.
Flushed with money, Sarjit has the choice of signing the best local talent as well.
Sarjit said that although they can sign up six foreign players but
he would only register four import players to give more playing time to locals
“We have enough quality local players and so, I want to give them more chance to play in the MHL as we cannot be relying on foreign players for ever to win the titles,” said Sarjit.
Terengganu have seven national players - goalkeeper Hafizuddin Othman, defender Azlan Misron, midfielders Shahrun Nabil and Fitri Saari and forwards Faizal Saari, Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin and Firhan Ashaari.
All except Fitri featured in the World League Semi-finals in Antwerp, Belgium.
Terengganu HC's three ex internationals are defender Engku
Malek, midfielder Jivan Mohan and forward Ismail Abu.
Sarjit said they have also included juniors, who will be playing in
Sukma (Malaysia Games) in Sarawak next year.
Last season, Terengganu HC lost the first leg final 2-1 to Kuala Lumpur HC, but romped home 6-1 in the return leg to lay their hands on the League title for the first time after making their MHL debut in 2013. They also beat KLHC 2-1 in the penalty shoot-out for the Overall title, after a 3-3 regulation time draw.
Only six teams will feature in the Premier League. The teams are double champions Terengganu HC, Tenaga Nasional, Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club (KLHC), Maybank, Sapura and Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL).
However, there is an increase in both the Division One and Women's League.
There will be 13 teams in Division One, an increase from 11 teams in 2014, and 11 teams in the Women's League, a rise from seven teams last year.
Terengganu HT coach Sarjt Singh, however, is still keeping the foreign signing close to his heart.
"We signed five Koreans last year but they are not available because the MHL clashes with their domestic league. I have approached players from another country and am in the midst of securing their contracts.
"All I can say right now is that they are good players, and will be helpful in defending both our titles," said Sarjit Singh.
Flushed with money, Sarjit has the choice of signing the best local talent as well.
Sarjit said that although they can sign up six foreign players but
he would only register four import players to give more playing time to locals
“We have enough quality local players and so, I want to give them more chance to play in the MHL as we cannot be relying on foreign players for ever to win the titles,” said Sarjit.
Terengganu have seven national players - goalkeeper Hafizuddin Othman, defender Azlan Misron, midfielders Shahrun Nabil and Fitri Saari and forwards Faizal Saari, Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin and Firhan Ashaari.
All except Fitri featured in the World League Semi-finals in Antwerp, Belgium.
Terengganu HC's three ex internationals are defender Engku
Malek, midfielder Jivan Mohan and forward Ismail Abu.
Sarjit said they have also included juniors, who will be playing in
Sukma (Malaysia Games) in Sarawak next year.
Last season, Terengganu HC lost the first leg final 2-1 to Kuala Lumpur HC, but romped home 6-1 in the return leg to lay their hands on the League title for the first time after making their MHL debut in 2013. They also beat KLHC 2-1 in the penalty shoot-out for the Overall title, after a 3-3 regulation time draw.
Only six teams will feature in the Premier League. The teams are double champions Terengganu HC, Tenaga Nasional, Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club (KLHC), Maybank, Sapura and Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL).
However, there is an increase in both the Division One and Women's League.
There will be 13 teams in Division One, an increase from 11 teams in 2014, and 11 teams in the Women's League, a rise from seven teams last year.
Sunday, July 5, 2015
Malaysia shoot themselves in foot... again
MALAYSIA crumbled like dominoes to hand Ireland their first ever Olympics ticket when they went down 4-1 in the Fifth-Sixth placing match in the World League Semifinals in Antwerp, Belgium yesterday.
By finishing fifth, Ireland are assured of playing in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, while Malaysia will have to wait their turn and hope on luck that there are plenty of double qualifications from the Oceania Cup, Pan American, European Cup and that hosts Brazil do not finish in the top six bracket in the Pan American.
The players only have themselves to blame as they had two golden chances to qualify but blew the quarterfinals 3-2 against India, and then went crashing against the Irish.
Now Malaysia are fifth reserves behind Canada, Spain, Ireland and New Zealand.
Ireland came charging in the first quarter, and scored two quick goals to place great pressure on Malaysia. Kyle Good slotted in a cheeky goal in the fifth, while a top of the semi-circle hit from Peter Caruth in the eighth minute made it 2-0.
It was a better second quarter from Malaysia, as they won their first penalty corner immediately upon restart, but the Irish defense was stubborn.
But luck ran out of the Malaysian bench when easy sitters were blown by Faizal Saari and Haziq Shamsul, and their poor attempts made Ireland goalkeeper David Harte look good.
Coaches Tai Beng Hai, Nor Saiful Zaini and team manager Stephen van Huizen got their 10 minutes at the half-time break to motivate the players, as there is still time for Malaysia to pull off an upset.
However, the Irish were better prepared with their counter attacks and made it 3-0 when Alan Sothern tappen in a cross in the 40th minute.
After six penalty corners, finally a deflection from Faiz Jali went crashing into the net in the 55th minute.
But the Irish were in no mood to give away their win and added their fourth in the 59th minute off Michael Darling.
Meanwhile, Pakistan ended their campaign on another low when they were beaten 2-1 by France. Simon Martin (13th) and Hugo Genestet (30th) scored for France and Muhammad Toseeq (48th) for Pakistan.
RESULTS: Final: Australia x Belgium x; Third-Fourth: India x Britain x; Fifth-Sixth: Malaysia 1 Ireland 4; Seventh-Eighth: Pakistan 1 France 2.
By finishing fifth, Ireland are assured of playing in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, while Malaysia will have to wait their turn and hope on luck that there are plenty of double qualifications from the Oceania Cup, Pan American, European Cup and that hosts Brazil do not finish in the top six bracket in the Pan American.
The players only have themselves to blame as they had two golden chances to qualify but blew the quarterfinals 3-2 against India, and then went crashing against the Irish.
Now Malaysia are fifth reserves behind Canada, Spain, Ireland and New Zealand.
Ireland came charging in the first quarter, and scored two quick goals to place great pressure on Malaysia. Kyle Good slotted in a cheeky goal in the fifth, while a top of the semi-circle hit from Peter Caruth in the eighth minute made it 2-0.
It was a better second quarter from Malaysia, as they won their first penalty corner immediately upon restart, but the Irish defense was stubborn.
But luck ran out of the Malaysian bench when easy sitters were blown by Faizal Saari and Haziq Shamsul, and their poor attempts made Ireland goalkeeper David Harte look good.
Coaches Tai Beng Hai, Nor Saiful Zaini and team manager Stephen van Huizen got their 10 minutes at the half-time break to motivate the players, as there is still time for Malaysia to pull off an upset.
However, the Irish were better prepared with their counter attacks and made it 3-0 when Alan Sothern tappen in a cross in the 40th minute.
After six penalty corners, finally a deflection from Faiz Jali went crashing into the net in the 55th minute.
But the Irish were in no mood to give away their win and added their fourth in the 59th minute off Michael Darling.
Meanwhile, Pakistan ended their campaign on another low when they were beaten 2-1 by France. Simon Martin (13th) and Hugo Genestet (30th) scored for France and Muhammad Toseeq (48th) for Pakistan.
RESULTS: Final: Australia x Belgium x; Third-Fourth: India x Britain x; Fifth-Sixth: Malaysia 1 Ireland 4; Seventh-Eighth: Pakistan 1 France 2.
Pakistan 1 France 2
Pakistan ended their campaign on another low when they were beaten 2-1 by France in the 7th-8th classification at the World League Semifinals in Antwerp, Belgium.
Simon Martin (13th) and Hugo Genestet (30th) scored for France and Muhammad Toseeq (48th) for Pakistan.
Simon Martin (13th) and Hugo Genestet (30th) scored for France and Muhammad Toseeq (48th) for Pakistan.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
