BENG HAI IS NO COWARD SAYS RAMLAN

The fact that Tai Beng Hai took on the job of national coach just four months prior to the Asia Cup shows that he does not fit into the profile of a coward.

And the fact that as a player, Beng Hai played despite pain during the 1992 Barcelona Olympics shows that he has strong personality and is no quitter.

This is how the National Sports Institute Director General Dato Dr. Ramlan Aziz looks at the qualities of under fire coach Beng Hai who spoke his mind about the national team during an interview with this blog last week that saw two MHF officials making statements unbecoming of their stature.

While MHF Deputy President Nur Azmi Ahmad said that Beng Hai was a coward for saying that Malaysia will find it tough to make the 2010 World Cup, MHF coaching committee chairman Dr. Balbir Singh said it was high time the national team sought the services of a shrink.

And Ramlan was not at all pleased with the statement of Balbir as he had not gathered his facts before coming out with such a statement.

"It is unfair to say that Beng Hai is a coward just because he spoke his mind and was honest about his opinion," said Ramlan.

"We have to be honest and view the statement objectively and see how best we can support the coach instead of lambasting him as if there is no tomorrow.

"As for the services of the psychologist, the NSI has provided one to the team, though not on a permanent basis and it is really up to the coaches to utilise him. As it stands there are no problems on this aspect so I really cannot understand where Balbir is coming from."

Ramlan said that Beng Hai has a good working relationship with him and has often held discussions on the preparation of the team, especially on the fitness aspects.

"I find Beng Hai very meticulous in his preparation of the team and he understands the values of sports science," said Ramlan.

"So I hope that some people will stop questioning his ability and preparation but rather channel the energy to help him realise the teams potential instead of taking pot shots at him.

"It is vital that we support the coaches and understand where that statement was coming from instead of making unfounded allegations."

AHF TO ORGANISE CHAMPIONS TROPHY

With the Malaysian Hockey Federations making unreasonable demands, the Asian Hockey Federation has decided that they will organise the inaugural Champions Trophy on their own, and it will be held in Ipoh on a yet to be determined date.

In revealing this AHF General Secretary Tan Sri P. Alagendra said the decision followed MHF having imposed certain conditions to play host.

And a meeting between the AHF President Sultan Azlan Shah, AHF Treasurer Fumio Ogura and Alagendra in Kuala Lumpur last week, it was decided that AHF will play the role as hosts.

" We will form an organising commiittee and work out the details of the tournament," said Alagendra when met at the High Street Sikh Temple where he attended the prayers for the late Major Singh, father of MHF Vice President Dato SS Cheema.

" Malaysia made a decision and we respect that but the show must go on.

" The dates will be determined after we have consulted the teams and Malaysia as we would like to know their plans with regards to the Azlan Shah Tournament."

The inaugural event is most likely to be held in January as MHF are said to be keen on holding the Azlan Shah in June.

Alagendra said that the AHF was considering to expand the tournament to five and that will mean India will join the fray with the original teams being Korea, Pakistan, China and Malaysia.

DRAMA AT MHF COMPETITIONS COMMITTEE MEETING

While the MHF Competitions Committee met yesterday to approve it's calendar for 2010, therre was drama before the meeting proper got underway.

One of Kuala Limpur's representatives was told to leave the meeting as each state was only allowed one representative but KL had two officials at the meeting. The said official was no longer a representative as he had stepped down as the committee's secretary a few months ago while the other representative was the deputy chair of the commiittee, a non existent position going by the constitution. There were heated exchanges and the matter is expected to be deliberated at a yet to be determined council meeting.

Back to the calendar, MHF passed off an opportunity to have the top ranked world teams play in the Azlan Shzh when it opted to hold the tournament in June instead of January, prior to the World Cup. It will be held June 26 to July 4.

Another interesting development was to open participation of the MHL Premier League to clubs from Singapore and asking UniKL to sort out it's affiliation status.

While the MHL will see the participation of these new teams it will be heartbreak for Uitm and Airod as the commiittee decided they can only play in the Premier League in the 2010 edition and not in this years MHL although the two teams gained promotion. The positive side is that one match each Friday will be shown live over ESPN.

Johor will host the 2010 Razak Cup from 24 March to 4 April, prior to the Under 16 event to be held in Sabah from 6 to 14 March. The Under 14 tournament will be held in Penang from Nov 6 to 14 while the host of the Champions School to be held from 17 to 23 July is yet to be determined.

The committee also approved a subsidy of RM5000 to states for the Razak Cup while it is RM4000 for age group events.

However all these decisions are subject to approval from the Council.

ENGLISH SURPRISE

The English lads did what their girls failed to do 24 hours earlier , winning their semi final clash against Holland through a golden goal and making the final of the European Championships.

England defeated Holland 2-1 and will play Germany who defeated Span also 2-1 but in regulation time to set up an unlikely final meeting while the predicted finalists will now play for the bronze.

The English have improved and will be a threat in Delhi, provided they play and not do as their badminton players did in the World Championships, pack up and leave.

DIVINE INTERVENTION

There is no confirmation nor has the draw been done and New Zealand could well upset Australia and make the World Cup on merit thus rendering the qualifiers in NZ as a non starter.

But with 17 out of the 18 teams decided, with the exception of Oceania rep is to be decided and based on the preliminary result we have to assume that NZ will play and host one of the qualifiers. So who will play where and if the assesment of this source is to be believed then the team distribution will be as follows:

Qualifier in France
Pakistan, France, Japan, Egypt, Austria, Chile

Qualifer in New Zealand
China, New Zealand, Malaysia, Poland, Scotland, Wales

Qualifier in Argentina
Belgium, Ireland, Argentina, Czech Rep, Russia, USA

These are merely the opinion of a friend within the fraternity so let's pray for Malaysia it is true.

WHO IS THE REAL COWARD AZMI?

After having a two parter interview with Tai Beng Hai, which was picked up in totality by The Malay Mail and in bits by Harian Metro, the Deputy President of MHF Nur Azmi Ahmad responded with a stinging attack on Beng Hai, calling him a coward.

It's either Azmi does not comprehend English well or did not read the articles and responded in a manner totally unbecoming of a person entrusted with the position of being Malaysian hockey's number two man.

The interviews Azmi, were done prior to the MHF President giving the ultimatum to deliver at the qualifiers or risk being replaced. So get your facts right before you decide to open your mouth and accuse someone of Beng Hai's stature.

Now as so far as coward is concerned, why is it that Azmi refused at the MHF Council meeting in July, a suggestion put forward that he resign should the team fail to qualify? Azmi for the record is the Chairman of the National Team Management Committee, a body formed after the "new" MHF was elected into office last November.

And at that Council meeting Azmi had proposed to do away with the Selection Committee with its powers handed over to the Team Management Committee. Just imagine this, a proposal to do away with a legally constituted sub-committee that falls in the ambit of the MHF Constitution and replace it with a committee that was formed under the powers granted to the MHF President.

So really Azmi, go get your facts right and read the article as a whole. You should be proud to have a coach that is honest and one that does not fear to voice his opinions. Just how many times has your committee met or listened to the coach.

If there is anyone who should be a coward, then it has to be you Azmi and if heads are to roll, then yours has to be the first. Period.

TRUTH IS STRANGER THAN FICTION - PART TWO

Having talked about the preparation of the team, national coach Tai Beng Hai bares his soul on matters affecting the team as a whole, right down to his unassuming nature that has been misinterpreted by many. Beng Hai was a “reluctant” candidate for the post of national coach when MHF appointed him in December 2008, yet he took up the appointment, as he believed in the players and their ability. His confidence till today is unraveled, as he believes that Malaysian hockey has what it takes to be among the “big” boys once again. Such is Beng Hai’s believe in the ability of the team that he is confident the team, given the right preparation can deliver a gold medal at the Asian Games next year.

(Note: This interview was done before MHF President Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah made the statement that Beng Hai must take the team to the World Cup or risk being replaced incase of failure)

MH: Your appointment is till the World Cup Qualifiers, after which you could well be out of a job if Malaysia does not qualify. Do you think it is fair to assess a person’s ability as a Coach after just a year on the job?

BH: When I was appointed I was the Interim Coach, a position that I have held since day one. So in reality I have come to accept that my services could be done away with at any time the MHF wishes to do so. Normally coaches are given a time frame to deliver and ideally it should be over a two-year period. Next year there is the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games to think about, and not to mention the World Cup. So really it is 2010 that we should be working on right now but since I have been told to deliver by November, I shall do my level best. This team has what it takes to win gold at the 2010 Asian Games and in the process an automatic place in the 2012 London Olympics, but the planning should start early.

One must always remember that I am the interim coach so planning beyond November is something I cannot do.

MH: What has been the turn over of players in your squad ever since you have taken over? Have you chopped or made significant changes to the team since January and are there plans to add on more players?

BH: I took over the team in January and basically it has been the same team with exception to three players (Zulkifli, Suffian, Sasidharan) dropping out due to retirement or long-term injuries. And we have roped in some promising youngsters after Junior World Cup, so basically there have been minimum changes. However the team management has made a request to NSC via MHF to increase the squad to 35 players and a decision is expected next week when the Joint Committee meets.

MH: There have been unconfirmed reports that several players are thinking of quitting the national team. Have you been informed of any such withdrawals or intentions? Two of the players said to be considering early retirement are Azlan Misron and Chua Boon Huat as they were peeved at statements made by certain quarters as to why they were left out of the team for the Australia and New Zealand tours. Any truth to this?

BH: As far as I am concerned no players have quit the team and I expect to see Chua and Azlan at training next week. I was told of the intention of Azlan by the Team manager when the team was overseas and intend to meet Azlan to clarify certain things. I also will be having a heart to heart with Chua to find out what his problems are. Frankly leaving them out of the tours was to give others a chance and allow these two to recuperate. At no time did I say that the two are not part of my plans for the qualifiers. I cannot be responsible for what others might have said or was reported in the press, as it did not come from me. Ultimately it is my decision and my intention to talk to these two players is to get to the bottom of the matter, so lets just wait and see what happens.

MH: Is there a problem within the team since most of the players come from a club formerly managed by the Team Manager (George Koshy). Is there any form of compromise over discipline for these players?

BH: The coaches are responsible towards training the players and deciding on the team for tournament and matches and George does not interfere at all. On the question of discipline it is our joint responsibility and there is no question of favoring any player from a particular club. In the national set-up there is no division of players by clubs as they represent Malaysia and not their clubs nor employers. The coaching staffs share a cordial yet professional relationship with the Manager and we standby all decisions made by the management as it is done collectively.

MH: You have often been accused of standing in the way of players intending to play in the foreign leagues. What is your reaction to this?
BH: I have no problems with players wanting to play in foreign leagues so long as it will serve national interest. There are two criteria that I will look at before deciding to release a player to play overseas, firstly is the player disciplined enough to train on his own and secondly will his commitments affect the call of national duty. If the player can deliver on both aspects, then why should I stop them? For example we have Selvarajoo who will be playing in the NZ League and I am happy for him, and at the same time I hope youngsters like Faizal (Saari) will try to get stints with foreign clubs, as ultimately this will help Malaysian hockey.

MH: Some have labeled you difficult to communicate with while others feel that you are at times too reserved. What is your take on this?

BH: Ever since I was a player I shunned publicity and I am just the same person I was during my playing days as well as when coaching the clubs. I am reserved by nature but that should not be seen as being unfriendly. I have had some run-ins with certain personalities but it was just a case of miscommunication or a difference of opinion. To be honest I have no qualms of talking to anyone and have an open door policy for my players and I intend to get my players to open up. A two-way communication is vital to the success of any team.

MH: The European Championships are on, yet you are not there spying on our possible opponents? Why is that so?

BH: I made a request to go but it was denied so what I can do about it. After all I am the interim coach.