A SECOND CHANCE

With FIH not agreeing to the joint administration of hockey in India, by Indian Hockey Federation and Hockey India, it opens up an opportunity for Malaysia to host the Olympic Qualifiers next February.

This comes about after FIH made a statement yesterday with regards to the joint administration and one para of the press release should send pulses racing within the MHF, that is if they can seize the moment.

" The FIH Executive Board is obliged to uphold the Olympic Charter and the FIH Statutes. The FIH President has therefore written to the Indian Sports Minister, calling for an urgent meeting, involving the Presidents of HI and the IOA, to discuss the FIH’s concerns and the ramifications of the current proposal for India’s role in world hockey. In the meantime, the FIH Executive Board has decided that it is neither possible nor appropriate to continue with the discussions with HI to host tournaments in India over the next 4 year cycle, particularly the FIH Men’s Champions Trophy (December 2011), and the FIH Men’s & Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournaments (February 2012)."

Simply put, it means that FIH may take away the hosting rights for the two tournaments - Champions Trophy and Olympic Qualifiers.

Hence MHF should play it's cards right by stepping up to offer to play hosts for the Qualifiers.

But then again we too have issues with FIH that have to be resolved. The fact that our own merger has been delayed, or rather MHF sought a delay from September to December this year will not help our cause.

But more of that later as MHC has been issued a letter by FIH which they have yet to make public.

And by this December I will have to change the headings - no more MHF and MWHA but just MHC.

CONTRASTING COSTS

The MHF and it's 1MAS program both have websites that are hardly updated.

But that is not the issue here as from the copy of audited accounts for last year handed to me, the MHF website cost RM4,500 to develop and design while the 1MAS website cost RM12,000.

So why the vast difference in cost? Care to answer that Chairman of 1 MAS Task Force or MHF Development Committee.

Also minutes of the 1 MAS Task Force meeting presented at the MHF Management Committee in June stated that a person was being paid to maintain or in other words provide content for the website. But all we see is one article of the Under 16 and nothing from the camp held in Seremban where select media were invited.

But then again who cares right as it's government money.

Stay tuned on the medical plight of a national player that had to pay his hospital bills on his own and wait months to be reimbursed while MHF staff get reimbursed the same month.

PAHANG, KL MAKE RAZAK CUP FINAL

National player Mohd Amin Rahim atoned for his penalty stroke miss to score the winning goal to steer Kuala Lumpur into the final of the Division One when they edged Terengganu 2-1 in the semis played at the MPMBB Stadium in Bukit Serindit this evening.

And joining them in the final are Pahang who showed clinical finishing to defeat Armed Forces 3-1 in the other semifinal.

The two teams last played in a final in 1997 where KL defeated Pahang. And in between the posts at that time was Izwan Suhardi Selamat who is the coach of the Pahang team.

For KL, their last defeat in the final was against Perak in 1998 and this will be their 22nd time playing in the final. And they only lost three out of the 21 finals.

KL were awarded a penalty stroke in the 28th minute, at a timr when Terengganu were already 1-0 up, thanks to a goal by Mohd Faisal Saari who scored from a penalty corner.

But Amin's attempt was weak and easily saved by Terengganu custodian Mohd Hafizuddin.

It was Amin's first penalty stroke miss since 2006 where he missed the stroke in the penalty shootout of the MHL final against E&Y.

But that did not dampen the spirit of the defending champions as they were on level terms in the 32nd minute through Nabil Fiqri Mohd Nor, who broke through on the right and set a reverse stick attempt sailing into goal.

Amin made up for his penalty stroke miss by converting a penalty corner in the 57th minute. And although Mahinder singh was presented with two sitters in the closing stages, he sent both his shots sailing over the bar.

But KL were already safely through as Terengganu failed to trouble the city defence where Baljit Singh, Amin and Mohd Razie Andul Rahim were rock steady.

For Pahang, their experienced players in the likes of Ismail Abu, Mohd Sallehin Abdul Ghani, and Ahmad Kazamirul Nasaruddin made the difference against a hard working Forces side that lack technical skills.

Pahang opened scoring in the 9th minute through Kazamirul who converted a penalty corner. They doubled their advantage in the 17th minute through Mohd Hafiz Zainol. But Hafiz will sit out of the final after picking up a green card late in the game and has now collected eight demerit points thus being suspended for one match.

Armed Forces reduced the deficit in the 28th minute through Ahmad Ridzwan Zainal Abidin off a penalty corner.

But Pahang sealed their place with a goal in the 58th minute Mohd Aminuddin Abu.

SELANGOR, NS QUALIFY FOR DIVISION TWO FINAL

Selangor qualified for the final of the Division Two for the Tun Razak Cup when they defeated Kedah at the MPMBB Stadium in Bukit Serindit.

And they will be up against Negeri Sembilan who edged Perlis 3-2 in the other semi final.

Mohd Redza Maadun opened scoring for Selangor in the 4th minute and he doubled their lead in the 43rd minute.

Kedah pulled a goal back in the 55th minute through Mohd Zakaria Kamaruzaman but a potential fightback was snuffed when Faridzul Afiq Mohamad scored the third goal in the 68th minute to take Selangor into the final.

Perlis went ahead in the 8th minute when Mohd Izzat Ghazali converted a penalty corner. But Negeri were on level terms in the 17th minute when M. Rageshwaran  scored.

It was Perlis that went 2-1 ahead in the 46th minute, again through a penalty corner when Mohamad Najmi Farizal Jazlan.

But Negri hit a purple match midway through the second half as they scored two goals within two minutes.

First it was Ganeisha Tamil Chelvam who drew Negeri level when he scored from a penalty corner in the 54th minute. And hardly had the cheers settled down when Azraie Mohd Azizan scored. And NS held on to make it to the final.

MALACCA WOODEN SPOONISTS IN DIVISION ONE

Hosts Malacca ended up last in the First Division of the Razak Cup being held at the MPMBB Stadium in Bukit Serindit.

From being touted as potential champions, to finish last must surely be a bitter pill for the state HA, especially so when Malacca finished as southern zone champions.

Malacca took the lead in the 12th minute through Dedy Ariyadi Jumaidi but Johor were on level terms in the 47th minute through Faez Hilmi Jali.

Johor took the lead in the 64th minute via Baljit Singh who converted a penalty corner but Malacca were awarded a penalty stroke two minute later which Dedy duly converted.

Just when the match was headed towards extra time, Baljit struck through another penalty corner in the 68th minute to give Johor a 3-2 win.

In the match to decide 5/6th placing, Perak went on a rampage to inflict a 11-3 trashing.

Hafifihafiz Hanafi scored four goals ( 41st, 44th, 65, 70th minutes), with Amir Farid Ahmad Puzi netting a brace (4th & 18th minutes) as did Mohd Haziq Samsul (7th & 22nd minutes). The other goalscorers were Mohd Sabri Mohamed (33rd minute),Mohd Rasyid Mohd Hazar (38th minute) and Shazul Imran Nazli (55th minute).

Penang got their goals through Muhammad Redzhawan Jaafar (21st minute) and Azli Misron (45th & 63rd minutes).

In the second division, Sarawak finished at the bottom when they lost 1-0 to Projek 2017 while Sabah ended in the sixth spot after defeating Kelantan 6-1.

CLASSIFICATION RESULTS

DIVISION ONE

7th & 8th Placing

Johor 3 Malacca 2

5 & 6th Placing

Perak 11 Penang 3

DIVISION TWO

7th & 8th Placing

Projek 2017 1 Sarawak 0

5th & 6th Placing

Sabah 6 Kelantan 1

AN ENCOUNTER WITH TBH IN MALACCA

It was an interesting debate with Tai Beng Hai when our paths crossed in Malacca and stay tuned today as I will share it with followers of this blog. Things were pretty heated at one stage and one thing is certain though, the pressure of delivering an Olympic berth is getting to TBH.

Suffice to say that while he is entitled to his opinion, I stand by mine, that is the squad of the current 25 national players does not comprise of the best hockey talent in the country, there is no such thing as meritocracy be in careers, studies or sports in the country.

Engaging with media has never been TBH strong points as evident in the encounter at Bukit Serindit. But I have given him the benefit of doubt before he tries to reason when our paths cross.

But in this case you got it wrong TBH.

PERAK OUTCLASS HOSTS MALACCA

Perak put themselves back in the running for a place in the semi finals of the Division One when they defeated hosts Malacca 4-1 at the MPMBB Stadium Bukit Serindit in Malacca.

Still smarting from their 4-2 defeat at the hands of Terengganu the previous day, Perak turned on their power to score three goals in the second half to out a dent the aspirations of Malacca, who now have to defeat Terengganu in their final preliminary round match on Tuesday.

Perak have three points while Malacca have one point, courtesy of their 2-2 draw against Pahang on Saturday night.

And all eyes will be on the final match of the day where Pahang take on Terengganu in the east coast derby. A win for Terengganu will assure them of a spot with Perak, Malacca and Pahang battling it out for the final berth.

Perak opened scoring in the 3rd minute through Hafifihafiz Hanafi and held on to the lead until the 44th minute when Khairul Nizam Mohd Rani equalised.

But that goal awoke Perak from their slumber and in the 53rd minute Hafifihafiz was on target once again to give his team a 2-1 lead.

Two goals by Mohammad Sabri Mohamed in the 62nd and 68th minutes, both via penalty corners gave Perak all three points and made the task of Malacca to qualify almost impossible.

"We played much better then we did against Pahang but I suppose that late match took the toll on the players as we collapsed in the final stages of the match," said Malacca coach K. Balakrishnan.

"It will be difficult to make the semis looking at our current position but so as long as we have a chance we will give it our best shot.

"Perak played well today and deserve the three points but we created enough chances midway through the match but failed to capitalise.

KL HELD AND GROUP A WIDE OPEN

Defending champions Kuala Lumpur were held to a scoreless draw by Johor in the Group A match of the Tun Razak Cup at the MPMBB Stadium in Bukit Serindit thus evening.

The result throws the group wide open as all four teams, KL, Johor, ATM and Penang can make the cut for the semis.

This us due to the fact that Armed Forces were held to a 2-2 draw by a fighting Penang side.

KL hold the edge as they have 4 points, the same as ATM while Johor and Penang have a point each.

Johor adopted a defensive strategy, having almost the entire team behind the ball for most part of the match.

But KL could not even find a way through via penalty corners despite having the nations two top strikers from that department in the likes of Mohd Amin Rahim and Mohd Razie.

And KL were guilty of being too hasty thus muffing several good build ups that fizzled in the last quarter of the pitch.

The draw however was not good for both teams as ATM could have booked a spot in the semis had they won while it made the task more difficult for Penang to qualify for the semis as they have to depend on the outcome of other matches.

ATM took the lead twice in the match but Penang fought back on both occasions to draw level thus leaving both teams still with a chance to make the semis.

Mohd Zulkifli Abdullah gave ATM the lead in the 6th minute but the islanders were on level terms four minutes later through the effort of Izwan Firdaus Tajuddin. It was Izwan's third goal in two matches.

ATM went 2-1 ahead in the 46th minute when Muhammad Azri Hassan slipped the ball through the pads of the onrushing Penang keeper Mohd Nazih Nawang.

But the constant pressure by Penang paid dividends as they netted the equalizer in the 60gh minute via Mohd Rashid Bahrom.

Penang needs to defeat Johor in their final match on Tuesday to make the semis and hope that Armed Forces fail to beat KL.

NS HAS ONE FOOT IN SEMIS

Negeri Sembilan inched closer to a place in the semis for Division Two of the revived Razak Cup when they defeated Sarawak 4-1 at the MPMBB Stadium in Bukit Serindit in Malacca.

And on the adjacent pitch, Projek 2017 put themselves back in contention for a last four place when they held fancied Selangor to a 2-2 draw in a match the youngsters really should have won.

With six points from the two wins registered thus far, NS had defeated Kedah 4-1 in their opening match on Saturday, they need a draw in their final group match against Sabah on Tuesday to seal their spot.

Had it not been for a last minute goal by Kedah in their 3-2 win over Sabah earlier, NS would have already qualified.

But with a healthy goal difference of plus 6, NS can afford to lose their last preliminary round match and still make the last four.

NS scored their goals through Ganeisha Tamil Chelvam ( 8th and 60th minutes), Azraie Mohd Azizan ( 18th minute) and M. Rageshsawaran ( 33rd minute) while Sarawak hot their consolation through the efforts of Jadiel Saidi ( 50th minute).

The Selangor v Projek 2017 match was a thriller as both teams created enough chances to win the match.

But hasty finishing coupled with the heat denied both teams in a match that the youngsters showed why their future was bright as they matched their more fancied opponents.

Selangor took the lead against the run of play when Noor Mohammad Othman converted a penalty corner in the 24th minute.

But within a space of two minutes the tide turned against Selangor as the young Projek side not only drew level but took the lead.

In the 33rd minute skipper Nor Azrul Abdul Rahman scored off a penalty corner and a minute later Muhd Azwar Abdul Rahman put his team ahead.

Selangor were spared the blushes when Faridzul Afiq Mohammad scored ten minutes from time.

Selangor will now have to defeat Perlis for a place in the semis. A Selangor defeat coupled with a Projek 2017 win by six goals or more against Kelantan will send the youngsters into the semis.

The last preliminary round matches will be played on Tuesday as Monday is a rest day.

LAST GASP WINNER FOR KEDAH AS PERLIS BOOK SEMIS SPOT

Kedah bounced back from their opening match defeat in the second division of the revived Tun Razak Cup when they scored in the final minute in their 3-2 win over Sabah.

And on the adjacent pitch of the MPMBB Stadium in Bukit Serindit, minnows Perlis were the first team to book a place in the last four of Division Two when they hammered Kelantan 6-2.

Kedah had to win against Sabah following their 4-1 defeat at the hands of Negri Sembilan yesterday.

And they got off to a great start when Nur Hrsikesa Mohd Murni converted a penalty corner in the 15th minute.

But Sabah were on level terms in the 33rd minute through Mohd Soffian Kamaruddin.

Kedah surged ahead when Nur Hrsikesa found the target off a second penalty corner in the 41st minute. Sabah fought bravely to once again draw level through Larry Lian who picked up a penalty corner rebound to score eight minutes before time.

But Nur Hrsikesa had the final say as his completed his hattrick in the 70th minute but more importantly ensured Kedah stayed in the hunt for a semis spot.

Kedah will play Sarawak on Tuesday while NS takes on Sabah.

For Perlis , the toast of the team was Mohd Siful Hafiz Jaafar who scored four goals to book his team's spot in the semis.

Having defeated Projek 2017 with a 2-1 scoreline, Perlis were in their element as they dominated the match.

Siful was on target in the 5th, 8th, 42nd and 48th minutes while the other two Perlis goals were scored by Azroy Azeman (4th minute) and Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin ( 65th minute).

Kelantan, who lost 10-2 to Selangor on Saturday, got their goals through the efforts of Shahrul Anuar Ibrahim (39th and 59th minutes).

HOSTS MALACCA HELD BY PAHANG

Hosts Malacca were held to a 2-2 draw by Pahang in the final match of the revived Tun Razak Cup at the MPMBB Stadium at Bukit Serindit in Malacca.

Pahang opened scoring through Ahmad Kazamirul Nasaruddin in the 7th minute . Kaza had the presence of mind to steer clear of two defenders before sending his penalty corner attempt sailing into goal.

Try as they did, the Malacca forwards led by former national player Chua Boon Huat could not breach the Pahang defence.

But Chua did manage to win a penalty stroke for Malacca  in the 31st minute when a Pahang player was adjudged to have played the ball with the reverse side of his stick. And Chua stepped up to duly convert the resulting stroke to draw Malacca level.

The respite was short lived as Pahang took the lead through Mohd Hafiz Zainul in the very next minute to lead 2-1 at halftime.

Malacca found the equaliser in the 63rd minute, again through Chua, who finished off a set piece to give the hosts a share of the spoils.

PERAK GOES DOWN TO TERENGGANU AS KL DEFEAT PENANG

Terengganu defeated Perak 4-2 in a Group B match of the revived Tun razak Cup tournament at the MPMBB Stadium in Bukit Serindit Malacca this evening.

Two early goals took the fight out of the silver state and raised questions over their ability to make the semi finals.

Terengganu were in their element, using the flanks to open up the Perak defence And it paid dividends as Mohd Syafiq Nordin scored in the 21st minute. Barely three minutes later the East Coast side doubled their advantage as Ahmad Alif Nazaruddin Al-Nadhri scored.

With national players Faisal Saari, his younger sibling Fitri, Mohd Shahrun Nabil and Mohd Firhan Ashaari stringing some delightful passes, it was only a matter of time before Terengganu scored again. And the third goal came in the 51st minute as Fitri found the mark.

Perak reduced the deficit through Amir Farid Ahmad Puzi scored in the 54th minute but the fightback was snuffed when Firhan scored Terengganu's fourth goal in the 65th minute. Tajol Rosli Mohammad, who was in the centre of a dispute between Peang,Perak and KL, scored the second for Perak in the 70th minute but it was a case of a little to late for Perak.

"We did not play well at all and all credit goes to our opponents who took their chances well. It will be tough against Malacca tomorrow but it is a match that we have to win in order to have a chance to make the last four," said Perak coach Manjit Singh.

Perak have experience on their side as players like Azlan and Azli Misron, Roslan Jamaluddin, Tajol, S. Bubalan, Mohd Shukri Mutalib and Hafifhafiz Hanafi can change the course of  a match with their ability. But getting them to play as a unit is something that Manjit has to do.

Meanwhile defending champions KL were given a rude awakening as Penang scored the first goal but failed to match the superiority of the city side as KL won 6-3.

It was a poor performance by KL, who had five national players in their ranks while Penang had four. But none of the nine players showed that they were a class above the other 12 players on the pitch at any given time.

Penang shocked KL as they scored in the 26th minute through Izwan Firdaus Tajuddin. However that goal jolted the defending champions out of their slumber and they drew level in the next minute when Mohd Ramadan Rosli scored.

Two goals by Mohd Amin Rahim and Kevinder Singh, in the 31st and 33rd minutes respectively gave KL a 3-1 lead but Penang reduced the deficit on the stroke of halftime through Izwan.

KL upped the tempo in the second half as Nor Izzat Sumantri (40th minute) and Amin (55th minute) made it 5-2. But Penang reduced the deficit through Azreen Rizal Nasir in the 59th minute. But KL had the final say when Mohd Hafiz Zakaria scored 10 minutes before time.

"We were slow in the opening 30 minutes as it was our first match as a team. But the win is what mattered and opening games can be difficult," said KL coach I. Vikneswaran.

"We hope for a more improved performance in our match against Johor. And we cannot read much into Johor's defeat against ATM as they will fight for their survival."

For Penang, the defeat, though a bitter pill to swallow, was not something that would worry their coach Bob Rajendran. For the wily Bob looked at the defeat as a learning experience for his charges.

"We lost out on experience as the KL side knew just when to change the tempo of the match. If they can sustain the performance in the next two matches, things will look good for us," said Bob.

ARMED FORCES DEFEAT JOHOR

Armed Forces created the first upset of the revived Razak Cup tournament when they defeated Johor 2-0 at the MPMBB Stadium in Bukit Serindit.

The humid conditions worked against the southerners as the fitter ATM side scored two goals in the first half to deal a severe blow to the hopes of Johor to make the last four.

ATM opened scoring in the 2nd minute through Mohd Zulkifli Abdullah who converted a penalty corner. And they went 2-0 up in the 15th minute through Ahmad Ridzuan Zainal Abidin.

Despite fielding an experienced side, with the likes of national players - Mohd Faiz Helmi, Muhammad Azammi Abadi, and former internationals Baljit Singh, S.Shanker and Megat Azrafiq Megat Termizi, Johor lacked the killer instinct within the semi circle.

"We created enough chances but failed to score and it was always going to be difficult when you concede two early goals against a fitter opponent, " said Johor coach Gurnit Singh, an ATM stalwart during his days with the Army.

For ATM, the win has brightened their chances if making the semis as they will be up against Penang in their next match on Sunday.

"It was a spirited performance and we will take it one step at a time. Playing a tournament with a tight schedule has it's advantages for us but then again we do nit have skillful players but they make it up with a determined performance on the pitch," said ATM team manager Lt. Col Azlan Shah Dato Aziz.

The Army side will go into the match against Penang with confidence having blanked the islanders 5-0 in the zonal qualifying tournament two weeks ago.

NS MAKE WINNING START AS PROJEK 2017 ARE DEFEATED

Negri Sembilan opened their Division Two campaign in the revived Razak Cup with a 4-1 win over Kedah in a Group B match at the MPMBB Stadium in Bukit Serindit this morning.

Missing former national skipper S.Kuhan who is in India, NS opened scoring when Mohd Marhan Jalil converted a penalty corner in the 8th minute.

But Kedah were on level terms in the 18th minute via Nur Hriseka Mohd Murni.

However NS scored the next three goals, through Mohd Asraf Zulzali ( 24th minute), Ganeisha Tamil Chelvam ( 33rd minute) and Kavin Kartik ( 48th minute).

The Project 2017 squad however lost their opening match 2-1 to Perlis.

In a match where all goals were scored by players donning the number 3 jerseys, the Project Squad were expected to do much better.

Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin scored in the 16th minute before Muhd Fahmi Asri Amir put his team on level terms in the 49th minute. But Tengku Ahmad endured the northerners collected full points by scoring six minutes later.

In the East Malaysia derby, Sabah defeated Sarawak 3-1.

Meanwhile in another Group B match former champions Selangor went on a rampage when they defeated Kelantan 10-2.

Selangor opened scoring in the 2nd minute through Noor Muhammad Othman and doubled their advantage in the 15th minute through Norhisham Shaari.

Norhisham was on target again six minutes later before Kelantan reduced the deficit through Shahrul Anuar Ibrahim in the 26th minute.

Selangor regained their three goal advantage when Faridzul Afiq Mohamad was on target in the 32nd minute but a minute after the breather Kelantan scored via Abdul Laziz Ghani to reduce the deficit to 4-2.

But that was a temporary respite as the floodgates opened with Selangor scoring through Mohd Syakir Hamzah (50th), Noor Muhammad Othman (54) Muhammad Amerullah Abdul Aziz ( 55,64) Mohd Faisal Kamaruddin (60th) and Faridzul (69).

Fixtures ( Sunday )

Group A

0730H - Perlis v Kelantan

0900H - Selangor v Projek 2017

Group B

0730H - Sabah v Kedah

0900H - N. Sembilan v Sarawak

REVIVED RAZAK CUP GETS UNDERWAY

The REVIVED Tun Razak Cup, once the nations premier hockey tournament gets underway at the MPMBB Hockey Stadium in Bukit Serindit, Malacca today.

From being a major carnival style tournament in the 60s till last year, the REVIVED Tun Razak Cup is now reduced to a five competitive day tournament, with 16 teams participating.

Reduced to merely a side show from the much talked about REVIVAL of the nations oldest hockey tournament, there will be two areas of key interest in the tournament this year.

Firstly national coach Tai Beng Hai is expected to do a review on his team, this the national players will come under close scrutiny.

Next is the performances of the players from the Project 2013 squad will come under the microscope as they only returned from their European Tour on Thursday, this hardly giving the players any chance to rest before heading for Malacca and seeing action barely 48 hours after touching down at KLIA.

The Project players hardly have had much rest as they have been in action right from November last year when they started preparing for the MHL for the respective clubs and then carried on with the MJHL in late March that ended in May.

From then on the Project players went on a playing tour of Australia/ New Zealand before playing for their states in the National Under 21 Tournament in Johor.

A day after the National Under 21, the players either played in the AHF Under 18 Tournament in Singapore or were in the team that participated in the 4 Nation Invitational Tournament in Moscow.

Another round of duty for the states in the Razak Cup Qualifiers in early July was followed by a three country European Tour where they played with the junior squads of Germany, Holland and England.

And now they will be pushed to the limit by state coaches in the Razak Cup. And one can only keep their fingers crossed and pray that the players come out of this REVIVED Razak Cip without picking any serious injuries.

Coming back to the REVIVED Razak Cup, this blog will attempt to provide updated match reports and results as they happen in Malacca.

Though the blogger will be in Malacca for the initial two days, we will not be able to cover matches on Tuesday.

So if hockey lovers want to get updates of the REVIVED Razak Cup, make this your first stop in the mornings and last page you visit at night before going to bed as we strive to provide your coverage, unrivaled by any other site.

And all of this without any sponsors....

FILL IN THE BLANKS

The Razak Cup draw was held two days ago but no fixtures have been uploaded onto the MHF website.

Rather it shows a fixture list with numbers and those who were present at the draw are aware of the numbers representing the teams.

As for others, guess we just got to fill in the blanks as those responsible must be so busy that they cannot fill in the blanks.

Revived Razak Cup? Well some things just do not change.

RAZAK CUP - FARCE OF A DRAW

Well there appears to be lack of knowledge by those responsible towards conducting the draw for the Razak Cup that was held yesterday by MHF.

For how would one explain the presence of two teams from the same zone in one pool?

Take for example Penang and Armed Forces in Group A of Division One. The two teams played together in the North Zone Qualifiers with Armed Forces as Champions while Penang finished in second spot.

In order to be fair to all teams, there should have been two group champions and two runners-up in one pool. And once the two champions of zones were determined, it was easy to place the two runner - up teams into that pool and vice versa.

Now look at this scenario - Penang and ATM have played each other twice and in Malacca will meet for the third time.

But some smart person botched up the draw and the blame must be shared by those running MHF.

So will they do the changes? No chance whatsoever as they will not take heed of any comments, despite being true, provided by this blog.

Expect more farces to head your way when the tournament gets underway

MALAYSIA TO HOST FIH CONGRESS IN 2012

2012 Congress:
It was announced that Malaysia will host the 2012 FIH Congress in Kuala Lumpur. The Congress dates are from October 31 to November 4, 2012.  It is the first time that Asia has hosted a Congress since 1975.

Champions Trophy & Champions Challenge Qualification System:The qualification criteria for the 2012 Champions Trophy and Champions Challenges were announced.

For the Champions Trophy the following teams will be qualified to participate:

The host
Teams placed 1st – 5th at the 2011 FIH Champions Trophy
The winners of the 2011 FIH Champions Challenge 1
One or two places to be nominated by the FIH Executive Board. The criteria used for the basis of the Executive Board decision are; commercial advantage to sport, world rankings and development of the game.

Qualification criteria for the Champions Challenge 1 and 2 can be found on the FIH website in the Event Resources section under the Sport section.

FIH World League: 

The new FIH World League will be launched in 2012. To date 62 men’s teams have entered and 51 women’s. As a result of these numbers, it is likely that there will be nine men’s Round 1 tournaments and eight women’s.  The FIH Competitions Committee has proposed that the Round 1 World League tournaments should be played after the Olympics in local venues to reduce travel for teams. Round 2 will follow in early 2013. In August / September 2013 Round 3 will be held and the first World League will conclude in November / December 2013 with Round 4.

Project Brazil 

The FIH is working closely with the Brazil Hockey Confederation to develop an action plan to strengthen hockey in the nation in the build up to the Olympic Games in 2016. Steps taken to date include the hiring of a High Performance Director, which is in the final stages; securing equipment support; participation in the World League and hosting the Pan American Challenge at the end of July.                                                                                                 

Complementary Game: 

The FIH is currently brainstorming with various stakeholders to develop a complementary game in time for the 2014 Youth Olympic Games. Several other sports have used the YOG to roll out complementary game formats and FIH is hoping to do the same. A proposal has been put forward to the IOC for approval at the IOC Executive Board next week in Durban.

RAZAK CUP

Well in order to be fair to MHF and their official website for the Tun Razak Cup, I waited till 1am Saturday, July 2, 2011 before posting this as until now I could not get the results of matches played on July 1 on either website.

So for those who want to know what transpired at the three zones, namely Central, East and South, this is the story.

In Malacca, the hosts were beaten 2-4 by Malacca. However both teams are assured of a place in the First Division.

In Kuantan, hosts Pahang defeated Terrngganu 2-1

And in Kuala Limpur, Perak were held to a 1-1 draw by the Nat U16 side.

As for the result of KL v Selangor match, honestly three SMS to various KL officials seeking info on the results were not answered, so really I could not care less as we try to provide info but when the parent body has no reason to look into this, then why should we.

So that much touted change in the Razak Cup system is just that - mere talk.

Maybe an unofficial site for Razak Cup - any sponsors.... Revive maybe...