ALL THE BEST...

SAPURA Hockey Club are poised to lift the Malaysia Hockey League Premier Division League title, provided they do not fumble against Terengganu Hockey Team (THT) at the Batu Buruk Stadium Friday.

  After THT, Sapura have Maybank to beat on Sunday to realise their dream of winning the League title -- which they last won in 2005.

  "It has been too long since we laid our hands on a title, and the Alagendra Cup on Tuesday was a welcome relief.

  "We last won the Overall title in 2006, and the League in 2005 and are in a good position to realise our dream.

  "From the two opponents, I believe THT will be the hardest to beat as we meet them in their own den in Batu Buruk (Kuala Terengganu)," said Sapura coach Yahya Atan.

  Sapura beat Tenaga Nasional 2-1 in the Alagendra Cup final, which was a cracker until the final whistle.

  "It was a good final, as all my players gave their very best and I believe they will do the same in the remaining two League matches as well," said Yahya.

  Yahya's men lead Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club (KLHC) by a point, while double champions THT are two points adrift of the leaders.

  "This is the most crucial weekend for all teams as the margin is very close and while we will aim to collect full points against Sapura and then Tenaga on Sunday, we will also be keeping our fingers crossed that the two teams above us drop points," said THT coach Sarjit Singh.

  FRIDAY -- Premier Division: Maybank v UniKL (Malacca, 6pm), Tenaga v Kuala Lumpur HC (KLHA, 6pm), Terengganu HT v Sapura HC (Batu Buruk, 5.30pm).

  SUNDAY: Terengganu HT v Tenaga Nasional (Batu Buruk, 5.30pm), Kuala Lumpur HC v UniKL (KLHA, 8pm), Sapura HC v Maybank (Tun Razak, 6pm).

  Division One: Quarter-finals First Round: TNB Thunderbolts v Nur Insafi (KLHA, 8pm), SSTMI v ATM Airod (SSTMI, 6pm), UiTM-KPT v Ipoh City Council (Tun Razak, 6pm), Politeknik v BJSS (Taman daya, 5pm).

  

PREMIER DIVISION

            P  W  D  L  F  A  Pts

SAPURA      8  6  0  2  14 11 18

KLHC        8  5  2  1  25 11 17

THT         8  5  1  2  22 14 16

UNIKL       8  2  1  5  8  12 7

MAYBANK     8  2  1  5  16 30 7

TENAGA      8  0  3  5  14 21 3

Sapura lift inaugural Alagendra Cup...

SAPURA Hockey Club lived dangerously, before Dangerous Lee handed them the inaugural Tan Sri P. Alagendra Cup at the Tun Razak Stadium Tuesday.

  The match was heading towards a shoot-out, but the Dangerous goal beat Tenaga Nasional 2-1 and also gave Sapura a RM70,000 purse.

  "We held onto the match because of good defending, especially in the third quarter when Tenaga came charging at us. Winning the inaugural Alagendra Cup has also charged up my players to go all out for the Premier Division League title

  "If we do well against Terengganu Hockey Team, the league title could also become ours," said Sapura coach Yahya Atan, whose team top the standings.

  Amin Rahim, a dejected Tenaga coach, said: "We failed to score the penalty stroke and that was the turning point of the match. Losing 2-1 to Sapura for the third time this season is also a jinx (Sapura won twice with the same score in the Premier Division home-and-away)."

  Tenaga, who received RM30,000, had the early chances but blew a handful until they won the first penalty corner in the 10th minute. Syed Syafiq Cholan's attempt hit a defenders foot and a penalty stroke was awarded.

  Syed stepped to the spot, but his flick was stopped by Sapura goalkeeper Hairi Rahman.

  And just as the first quarter's end approached, Sapura won their first penalty corner and this time Firhan Ashaari pusged low to beat Tenaga goalkeeper S. Kumar for the lead.

  At the half-time break, two former national players received their rewards from Yayasan Hockey Malaysia. Megat Azrafiq (139 caps, 12 years) and Hafifi Hafiz (140 caps, 10 years) received RM16,850 and RM15,500  respectively for their years of playing for the country.

  Alagendra, trustee of the Yayasan, presented them with the cheques.

  Tenaga came out fighting after the breather and after a few missed chances, they finally scored the equaliser in the 43rd minute.

  Off a botched penalty corner attempt, Shahril Saabah slammed home a reverse stick shot to give his mates a big boost.

  However, the final touch to claim the trophy belonged to Dangerous Lee who sent in a cracker to the top of the net in the 53rd minute to hand Sapura the inaugural Alagendra trophy.

Tenaga lay early claim on Alagendra Cup..

TNB's Hafizuddin (num 15) in action against THT in the semi-finals of the Tan Sri P. Alagendra Cup. TNB won 3-2 and will play Sapura in the final Tuesday.



TENAGA Nasional will play their game of the season Tuesday, as coach Amin Rahim is all fired up to claim the inaugural Tan Sri P. Alagendra Cup.
  Tenaga will square off against Sapura at the Tun Razak Stadium, and even though statistics do not favour Amin and his men, they do not want to let go of the only trophy they can claim this season.
  Sapura beat Tenaga 2-1 twice in the Malaysia Hockey League Premier Division home-and-away matches, and are tops on the standings.
  Tenaga are at the bottom of the Premier Division Standings, with only three draws and no wins to show.
  "We lost narrowly to Sapura in the MHL not because we were not good, but because Sapura were lucky both times. But in the Alagendra Cup final, luck will no longer matter as we aim to give our very best to claim the only trophy that we can this season," said Amin.
  Tenaga have the right to brag, because they they beat University Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) 3-2 in the quarter-finals, and did the unthinkable by beating last season's double champions Terengganu Hockey Team (THT) 3-2 to earn the final ticket.
  "We went through a tough route, ans after my players beat THT in the semis, nothing is impossible anymore," said Amin.
  Tenaga top-scorer Syed Syafiq Cholan, with five goals to his name, delivered two goals in that crucial win.
  "The team is really raring to set the record straight against Sapura, as we played much better but lost both the earlier matches. This is a golden chance which no player in our team wants to let slip from their fingers," said Syed Syafiq.
  Sapura coach Yahya Atan downplayed their chances.
  "Yes, both the League matches were close and I expect the Alagendra Cup final to be the same. We must not allow the youth in Tenaga to over-run us. It will be a cracker for sure, and I believe we will prevail for the third time this season."

  TUESDAY: Tan Sri P. Alagendra Cup: Final -- Sapura v Tenaga Nasional (8pm, Tun Razak Stadium).

It doesn't pay to mess around...

COLUMN 

By Jugjet Singh

HAPPY DAYS ...(from left) National coach Stephen van Huizen, Nabil, Razie and MHC Technical  Director Terry Walsh during the Pulapol visit on Aug 9.

NEVER hold the Police Force to ransom, as you will lose your freedom, and privileges before you can say shoot.
  Two national players found out the hard way when they did just that to the Police, and might now miss a chance to play in the Asian Champions Trophy in Kuantan on Oct 20-30 as well.
  National No 1 drag flick specialist Razie Rahim and midfielder Nabil Fiqri joined the Police as trainee Inspectors four months ago together with national women's players Farah Ayuni Yahya and Noor Hasliza Ali.
  They reported for training on May 8, and all was going well until Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club (KLHC) felt that they needed Nabil and Razie to boost their sagging fortunes in the Premier Division of the Malaysia Hockey League.
  KLHC wrote to the Pulapol Camp Commander asking for the duos release to play two crucial matches against Sapura on Friday and Terengganu Hockey Team on Saturday.
  Police shot down the request because the understanding with the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) was that the four players can only be released for national duty, as well as national training as they will be undergoing training for nine months before the passing out parade.
  Razie and Nabil then threatened to quit the Force if they are not allowed to play for their club KLHC.
  But the threat was met with a counter request for a letter stating that they quit the Police training on their own accord, which they failed to hand over.
  The saga continued, as these two players had gotten away with murder in demands aganst the MHC before and felt they were above the Force.
  Maneuvers were made to take them out of Pulapol on purpose of national weights training, and it worked. But instead of going to Bukit Jalil for weights on Friday, they went to the Tun Razak Hockey Stadium to play for KLHC in the Premeir Division.
  Razie scored two penalty corner goals by the 30th minute to help KLHC beat Sapura 3-0, but by half-time their ruse was dicovered by officers in Pulapol and they were told to pack their knap-sacks and report back to Pulapol in a huff.
  They left the game in a lurch, and were not allowed to play in the following day's crucial match against THT -- where KLHC lost 2-1.
  Naturally, the Pulapol Camp Commander is fuming mad with what happened as he had bent backwards earlier to acommodate requests from the MHC.
  An MHC delegation with no less than Terry Walsh as well as women's coach K. Dharmaray and men's coach Stephen van Huizen had visited all four Inspector Trainees in Pulapol recently and asked for some leeway like days out for national as well as weights training's, and for tournaments which involve the national team.
  The Force agreed to their demands, as it was for the nation's good. But they were also adamant that Club duty does not come under this understanding.
  So, by holding the Police Force to ransom, and jumping the Pulapol fence on a ruse, Malaysia might now lose the services of Razie and Nabil for the Asian Champions Trophy which offers World ranking points for the first time.
  MHC officials were also involved in this complot, and its only fair to penalise everybody who is involved in this conspiracy to play.
  Another ransom case solved. Well done Royal Malaysia Police.

Police ground Nabil and Razie...

TERENGGANU Hockey Team (THT) beat Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club 2-1 in the Premier Division of the Malaysia Hockey League yesterday.

  The defeat has placed a dent on KLHC's title charge, with two more matches to go.

  THT got their goals off Jang Jong Hyun (22nd) and Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin (35th) while Nor Faeez Ibrahim scored for KLHC in the 28th minute.

  KLHC got themselves into trouble when they fielded Police trainees Nabil Fiqri and Razie Rahim for the Sapura match on Friday.

  Both of them were only released for national training, to do weights, but went on to play for their club in the Premier Division of the Malaysia Hockey League instead.

  When the Pulapol Camp Commander found out about it, they were asked to report back for training immediately and left the match at half-time.

  And yesterday, both the national stalwarts were missing in action for KLHC in a crucial match against Terengganu Hockey Team.

  It was the first game of the season for both the players, and it looks like it would be the last as well as their Police training is until the end of the year.

  "This sneaky move has placed both the players hockey careers in a lurch, as they might not get a release from Police to play in the Asian Champions Trophy in Kuantan on 20-30 Oct," said an Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) official who declined to be named.

  However, KLHC coach Harun Rashid said he was not aware of the controversy surrounding his team.

  "Razie and Nabil were not used for the second half on Friday for tactical reasons, while they did not play against KLHC today (yesterday) because they had Police training until late evening."

  In another match, Sapura survived by the skin-of-their-teeth when they edged Universiti Kuala Lumpur 1-0 to top the standings.

  It was a penalty stroke from Oscar William Wookey in the 38th minute which gave them three vital points to keep the League title in sight.

  Otherwise, it was a listless match which saw mundane hockey being played for 60 minutes.

  Meanwhile in Divison One, TNB Thunderbolt emerged as the League champions and went home RM30,000 richer following a 13-1 thrashing of ATM Airod. Tunku Mahkota Ismail Sports School (SSTMI) and Universiti Teknologi MARA-KPT (UiTM-KPT) finished second and third respectively.

  In the President's Cup quarter-finals draw held yesterday, TNB Thunderbolt will meet Penang-based Nur Insafi, SSTMI go up against ATM Airod, UiTM-KPT plays Ipoh Municipal Council (MBI) and Politeknik Malaysia meets Bukit Jalil Sports School.

  The first leg quarter-finals will be held on Sept 16 and return leg on Sept 18 followed by the two-leg semifinals (Sept 21 and 23). The final is on Sept 25 at the Tun Razak Hockey Stadium. The champion of the President’s Cup receives RM30,000 and runner-up RM20,000.

  RESULTS: Premier Division -- Sapura 1 UniKL 0, Tenaga 3 Maybank 3, KLHC 1 Terengganu HT 2.

PREMIER DIVISION

            P  W  D  L  F  A  Pts

SAPURA      8  6  0  2  14 11 18

KLHC        8  5  2  1  25 11 17

THT         8  5  1  2  22 14 16

UNIKL       8  2  1  5  8  12 7

MAYBANK     8  2  1  5  16 30 7

TENAGA      8  0  3  5  14 21 3