Wining the gold medal at the Se a Games has brought mixed reactions.
I can only sum it up in one single phrase - in the kingdom of the blind the one with one eye rules.
There was never an iota of doubt that Malaysia will win the gold medal in both the men's and women's competition on Singapore.
Fair enough we sent a junior side for the men's competition and the team received flak for struggling in the final against Singapore.
But let's get real here - beating Singapore via shoot out is a pathetic performance to say the least.
Before more get on the defensive saying that they are Under 20 players, consider the facts.
The Malaysian team has been kept together since April 2014 and train full time.
On top of that the team had several training tours, even to Australia and played in the Sultan of Johor Cup last year.
The players have played in the MHL for several top clubs over the past year and that is a reason attributed for not fielding a team in the MHL last year and also this year ( but we all know the real reason is due to fact officials have their own contracts with clubs).
Against Singapore in the final, Malaysia had 10 penalty corners and scored one as the second was a muffed up set piece that ended up as a goal.
But does one realise that players were sent to Holland to train in the execution of penalty corners? And one out of 10 simply means money wasted as Kuhan with his fat belly could have trained these players in our backyard.
And what about field goals? If one was to recollect at a post match press conference in the SOJC, the coach and manager so proudly declared that the manager, one of the nations top strikers in the past, will start showing the finer points of goal scoring to the strikers. Obviously that was just one of the dramas we have been accustomed to.
Winning gold was not the answer as the performance was more important and the team failed to impress. Period.
And with the SOJC in October, and the Junior Asia Cup in November, questions need to be asked on the state of preparation of the team.
The entire preparation is in shambles and if the team does not finish at least 3rd at SOJC and make the final of the Junior Asia Cup, one would expect the coach and manager to walk the plank, in simple language resign and let others rescue the team.
And what about the women's team? They played without direction despite training 365 days a year.
Once again MHC is at fault as no changes to the coaching structure has been made for 4 years despite alarm bells ringing.
And once again before getting defensive, why is there no national juniors women's hockey team formed?
Is it because Neelam Pari does not have a coach she can control?
Enough is enough, do not claim success by winning gold at SEA games as out states used to trash Singapore at the Razak Cup.
