THT bounce back after hammering...

TERENGGANU Hockey Team (THT) and their Argentines look like they have recovered from early jitters, and jet-lag, after they were hammered 6-2 by Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club (KLHC) 6-2 in the Premier Division Charity Shield.
  Double champions THT came charging back to win their next two matches convincingly, by hammering Maybank 5-1 and Tenaga Nasional 5-0 to stay in the hunt to defend their titles.
  THT, who hired four Argentina and One Pakistan player, showed better understanding after a turbulent opening match.
  "The Charity Shield is best forgotten, because almost all my players played well below par and lost 2-6. To be frank, my guest players had just arrived in Malaysia three days before we played KLHC, and they were still getting adjusted to the weather and also the time difference then," said THT coach Sarjit Singh.
  The four Argies took a total of 52 hours to arrive, with two stop overs and 16 hours in transit.
  "When my Argentine players arrived they were really tired as it nearly took them three days of travelling to finally reach their destination.
  "But now, they are used to the new time zone, as well as slowly getting adjusted to the weather," said Sarjit.
  Jose Leandro Tolin scored three penalty corner goals, one each against KLHC, Maybank and Tenaga. THT's top scorer is Faizal Saari with five goals to his name, three field, one penalty corner and one penalty stroke.
  KLHC and Sapura are leading the charge on seven points each, but they THT are snapping at their heels and its going to be another exciting MHL weekend when THT play Sapura on Friday -- as it could make or break both teams.


PREMIER DIVISION

                                         P W D L F  A Pts
KL HOCKEY CLUB 3 2 1 0 10 5 7
SAPURA                         3 2 1 0 7  5 7
T'GGANU HT                 3 2 0 1 12 7 6
TENAGA                3 2 0 1 5  8 6
UniKL                       3 0 0 3 3  6 0
MAYBANK               3 0 0 3 3  9 0

Maybank suffer third defeat..

MAYBANK turned out to be the early casualty in Premier One of the Malaysia Hockey Legue (MHL) as they fell to their third defeat when they were edged 2-1 by Sapura yesterday.

  After losing 2-1 to Tenaga Nasional and 5-1 to Terengganu Hockey Team, the defeat yesterday has put Maybank out of contention for a top-two finish.

  And it looks like the Tigers' investment in six foreign players, five Pakistan and one from India, has made little difference to their campaign.

  Sapura, with five imports, impressed when they held Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club 3-3 on Friday.

  Yesterday, Maybank took the lead off Mohamad Syafiq Zain in the ninth minute, but Dangerous Lee drew level in the 38th minute, while Pakistan import Abdul Haseem Khan nailed the Sapura winner in the 54th minute.

  "We have had a good start this season and hope to keep the momentum going in the remaining matches. Today (yesterday) we had to chase after being a goal down, and my players put up a good fight," said Sapura coach Tai Beng Hai who is riding the MHL on seven points after three matches.

   Maybank coach S. Vellapan said in all three matches they had to chase in the final quarter and that cost them the matches.

  "We were always chasing for goals and when we opened up to counter, that is when we got hit. In the remaining matches, we need to make sure this does not happen," said Vellapan.

    RESULTS: Premier Division: Maybank 1 Sapura 2, UniKL 0 KL Hockey Club 1, Tenaga Nasional 0 Terengganu HT 5.

  Division One Group A: BJSS 2 MBI 1, MSN-THT v TNB Thunderbolts (Match abandoned, rain).

  Group B: UniKL Young Guns 1 SSTMI Thunderbolts 1, ATM Airod 4 PKS-KPM 5, UiTM 2 Politeknik 0.

  Women's Group A: MSN-PHT 1 Politeknik 2; Group B: Manjung 0 UiTM Lions 3.

All-local Tenaga show power...

TENAGA Nasional kept a clean record when they edged Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) 3-2 in the Premier Division Of the Malaysia Hockey League Friday.
  Playing at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil, UniKL who had lost their opening match 2-1 to Sapura, scored off a first minute penalty corner.
  Najmi Farizal's flick gave them the lead, but Shahril Saabah drew level for Tenaga in the 27th minute only to see Nor Aqmal Gaffar (41st) give the Universiti side the lead again.
  The match went into high gear after that and Azril Misron (57th) gave Tenaga a lifeline at 2-2, and the winner was claimed by Ramadan Rosli off a field attempt in the 58th.
  It was Tenaga's second win, as they had beaten Maybank 2-1 last weekend.
  Tenaga have six 2016 Project players, while UniKL have 10 juniors.
  "UniKL are a team which plays high press for the entire game, and patience win us the game as we know that they can't keep up the momentum for 60 minutes.
  "I'm very proud of my players, as they showed that local players can play good hockey and win matches as well," said Tenaga assistant coach M. Kaliswaran.
  UniKL coach Arul Selvaraj blamed the crumble on accountability: "There was no accountability in the last quarter as tiredness crept into my players game and this is an area which I have been working on without success.
  "Anyway, even in defeat Im proud to say that there were 16 2016 Project players on both sides and they did show some flare."
  Arul is also the Project 2016 squad, which is preparing for the Junior Asia Cup in Kuantan in Novemner. The Cup is a Junior World Cup qualifier, with four teams from Kuantan qualifying for New Delhi next year.
  RESULTS: Premier Division: Tenaga Nasional 3 UniKL 2, Maybank x Terengganu HT x, KL Hockey Club x Sapura x.
  Division One Group A: MSP-YP-SSP 0 TNB Thunderbolts 2, MSNT-THT 1 MBI 0; Group B: PKS-KPM 4 Nur Insafi 4.
  Women's Group A: ATM Pernama 1 The Cops 0, Penang Juniors 0 Politeknik 2, MSN Kedah 1 PKS KPM 3.
  SATURDAY: Division One Group A: Masum USM v BJSS (KLHA, 5pm); Group B: UniKL Young Guns v Politeknik (National Stadium I, 5pm), UiTM v SSTMI ((National Stadium I, 7pm), ATM Airod v Nur Insafi (Tun Razak, 5pm).
  Women's Group B: SSTMI Thunderbolts v KL Sukma (Taman Daya I, 5pm), Manjung v PKS-KPM (Azlan Shah, 8pm), MSN Kedah v UiTM Lions (Padang Serai, 5pm).
  SUNDAY: Premier Division: Maybank v Sapura (National Stadium II, 6pm), UniKL v KL Hockey Club (National Stadium II, 8pm), Tenaga Nasional v Terengganu HT (National Stadium I, 8pm).
  Division One Group A: BJSS v MBI (KPM, 7pm), MSN-THT v TNB Thunderbolts (Batu Buruk, 7pm).
  Group B: UniKL Young Guns v SSTMI Thunderbolts ((National Stadium I, 4pm), ATM Airod v PKS-KPM (Tun Razak, 5pm), UiTM v Politeknik (National Stadium I, 6pm).
  Women's Group A: MSN-PHT v Politeknik (batu Buruk, 5pm); Group B: Manjung v UiTM Lions (Azlan Shah, 5pm).

KLHC poised to break free...

KUALA Lumpur Hockey Club (KLHC) are tipped to break away from the Premier Division chasing pack this weekend, as they play Sapura and UniKL in the Malaysia Hockey League.
  KLHC started the season by hammering double champions Terengganu Hockey Team (THT) 6-2 in the Charity Shield last Sunday, and are looking good to keep their momentum.
  Sapura could only beat UniKL 2-1 last Sunday.
  "Even though we hit a big score past THT, there were many areas of our game that still needs to be tightened if we want to continue winning.
  "I've been in the MHL long enough to know that a team needs to be consistent to win the title, and one big win does not mean anything at the early stage," said KLHC coach K. Dharmaraj.
   THT coach Sarjit Singh believes Maybank will not be easy today, after losing 1-2 to Tenaga Nasional: "Both of us have lost our opening matches and I believe it will not be an easy encounter as we chase for points. However, my foreign players from Argentina are now more accustomed with the local players and we are ready to give a better fight."
  RESULTS (Wednesday): Division One Group B: UiTM 2 PKS-KPm 3; Women's Group B: KL-Sukma 0 Uitm Lions 0, PKS-KPM 4 SSTMI Thunderbolts 0.
   TODAY: Premier Division: Tenaga Nasional v UniKL (National Stadium II, 6pm), Maybank v Terengganu HT (National Stadium II, 8pm), KL Hockey Club v Sapura (National Stadium I, 8pm).
  Division One Group A: MSP-YP-SSP v TNB Thunderbolts (Kuantan, 5pm), MSNT-THT v MBI (Batu Buruk, 5pm); Group B: PKS-KPM v Nur Insafi (National Stadium I, 5pm).
  Women's Group A: ATM Pernama v The Cops (Tun Razak, 5pm), penang Juniors v Politeknik (Sg petani, 5pm), MSN Kedah v PKS KPM (Padang Serai, 5pm).
  TOMORROW: Division One Group A: Masum USM v BJSS (KLHA, 5pm); Group B: UniKL Young Guns v Politeknik (National Stadium I, 5pm), UiTM v SSTMI ((National Stadium I, 7pm), ATM Airod v Nur Insafi (Tun Razak, 5pm).
  Women's Group B: SSTMI Thunderbolts v KL Sukma (Taman Daya I, 5pm), Manjung v PKS-KPM (Azlan Shah, 8pm), MSN Kedah v UiTM Lions (Padang Serai, 5pm).
  SUNDAY: Premier Division: Maybank v Sapura (National Stadium II, 6pm), UniKL v KL Hockey Club (National Stadium II, 8pm), Tenaga Nasional v Terengganu HT (National Stadium I, 8pm).
  Division One Group A: BJSS v MBI (KPM, 7pm), MSN-THT v TNB Thunderbolts (Batu Buruk, 7pm).
  Group B: UniKL Young Guns v SSTMI Thunderbolts ((National Stadium I, 4pm), ATM Airod v PKS-KPM (Tun Razak, 5pm), UiTM v Politeknik (National Stadium I, 6pm).
  Women's Group A: MSN-PHT v Politeknik (batu Buruk, 5pm); Group B: Manjung v UiTM Lions (Azlan Shah, 5pm).

KLHC blank out double champs THT

ONLY about 300 fans showed up for the Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) Premier Division Charity Shield at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil yesterday.
  And the action on the pitch was also a big disappointment, as double champions Terengganu Hockey Team (THT) started off on a lame note, and went crashing 2-6 to Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club (KLHC).
  The four Argentine, as well as one Pakistan import of THT looked lost, and did little to help their cause -- and hopefully they play better hockey in the remaining matches.
  Argentine Jose Leandro Tolini scored a well placed, but not powerful, penalty corner goal in the 15th minute, but THT went crashing in a three-minute penalty corner blitz.
  All three KLHC penalty corner goals were taken by Razie Rahim, but the first one was deflected home by Pakistan's Ali Shan (19th), the second deflected in by Nabil Fiqri (20th) and the third was flicked in directly by Razie (21st).
  Rashid Baharom added the fourth misery in the 33rd minute, with a simple tap in.
  KLHC showed their pedigree, to snatch their fourth Charity Shield when Rashid scored his second in the 49th minute, and Harvinder Singh made it 6-2 in the 58th.
  Ismail Abu scored THT's second colsolation in the 52nd.
  The other Charity Shields were won in 2011, 2012 and 2014.
  KLHC coach K. Dharmaraj said his experience in the MHL tells him its too early to judge the other team.
  "We were actually saved by the three consecutive penalty corners, after which THT had to move up and we got our chances to increase the lead off counter attacks.
  "However, the score-line does not reflect the game actually, as THT strikers did keep our goalkeeper very busy. I believe we can't take this game as a measurement of our strength, as we have many more good teams to play," said Dharmaraj.
  KLHC skipper Razie Rahim said: "Maybe our foreign players settled faster than THT's imports and thats why we were able to win by a comfortable margin."
  As for THT coach Sarjit Singh, he believes his players will bounce back.
  "After letting in three goals in three minutes, we had to play catch-up and move forward. However, our attempts did not hit the target, while KLHC were deadly in counter-attacks. Leaving the defeat behind, I know we will bounce back," said Sarjit.
  RESULTS: Premier Division: KLHC 6 Terengganu HT 2, Tenaga Nasional 2 Maybank 1, Sapura 2 UniKL 1.
  Division One Group A: TNB Thunderbolts 3 MBI 0, MASUM-USM 2 MSP-YP-SSP 3, BJSS 3 MSP-YP-SSP 1; Group B: Politeknik 2 ATM Airod 1, Nur Insafi 4 UniKL Young Guns 3.
  Women's Group A: ATM Pernama 9 Penang Juniors 0; Group B: KL-Sukma 4 MSN Kedah 0.