SUPER 9's TEST

The Australian Super 9's tournament, to be held in Perth from October 17-20 will be a totally new experience for the national hockey team.

 

But coach Paul Revington is looking towards to improve and build the consistency of Malaysian playing fundamentals in offense and defense, and believes the Super 9's offers a tournament opportunity for the players to prove this performance consistency. 

 

Malaysia will up against Australia, Pakistan and Argentina in the four day tournament. And they will also play a friendly against Argentina on October 15 followed by two matches against Australia A on October 22 and 23.

 

“It will be a good challenge for the players to combine 11-a-side and 9-a-side hockey in one Tour and especially as we are including players who have not had much hockey since two weeks prior to Asia Cup,” said Revington.

 

“All players have undergone a challenging initial two weeks having returned from a break. This phase (Sept-Dec 2013) is one where we must use the time to grow the quality of our player base and keep improving our physical base for a busy 2014 schedule.”

 

On what he is looking for in the three matches played on the sidelines of the Super 9’s, Revington said that it will give him a chance to evaluate the players and decide who will make the trip to Kakamighara for the AHF Champions Trophy that is scheduled from November 2-9.

 

“When in a training phase it is always good to play matches and get onto the "match pitch", added Revington.

 

“These matches, (Argentina and Australia A) is terrific for our team as all players get an opportunity to perform and fight for a place in the 2014 squad against high quality opponents.”

 

Currently there are 28 players in the training squad with 19 travelling to Perth. Two players playing overseas, Faisal Saari (German League) and S. Selvaraju (France) are already penned in for the AHF Champions Trophy where Malaysia will try defend the bronze they won in 2011 (Ordos) and 2012 (Doha),

10 IS THE TARGET FOR WORLD CUP

Having made the World Cup after a 12 year hiatus, Malaysia has set a lowly target of finishing 10 in the tournament that will be held at The Hague from may 31 to June 15 next year.

The target was announced by Malaysian Hockey Confederation president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah after a meeting between principles office bearers of the MHC and the coaches of the various national teams at his office on Monday.

The target does not make sense despite the fact that Malaysia will be the lowest ranked team at the World Cup next year. The whole idea of setting targets is to ensure the team aims for a position that is higher then what they are and moving two steps will not help Malaysia’s cause when the world ranking are released after the World Cup.

By Malaysian standards the target is a lofty one and it looks as if the MHC and the coaching team are playing it safe by setting the 10^th position as something they will be satisfied with.

In order to achieve the said target, Malaysia can lose all its preliminary round matches and only need to win the classification match in the 9^th-12 position playoffs.

This defeatist attitude will surely receive flak from many and already questions are being raised as to why we need to have an elaborate training program as such a lowly position can be achieved with winning one 70 minutes match.

Korea and India are two teams that Malaysia has done well against of late in international hockey and can be beaten. The same applies for the likes of England, New Zealand, Spain, South Africa and Argentina and really Malaysia should have a fair chance against them.

The big four of international hockey currently are Germany, Australia, Holland and upcoming Belgium, and these are the teams that we might not be able to match at the World Cup.

Besides the 1975 World Cup, our best showing was the 8^th place in Kuala Lumpur in 2002 but that should not stop us from setting a more reasonable target of finishing in the 5^th – 8^thplacing. And in order to do that Malaysia needs to finish at least fourth in the group at the end of the preliminary round.

For the record even France, languishing in world hockey rankings of late finished 7^th in two World cups – in 1971 and 1990.

Surely the time has come for Malaysia to stand up and be counted or rather we continue to be known as hosts of international tournaments.

 

Past World Cup Participation

1971- Barcelona – Did Not Qualify

1973 – Amstelveen – 11^th Place

1975 – Kuala Lumpur – 4^th place

1978 – Buenos Aries – 10^th place

1982 – Bombay – 10^th place

1986 – London – Did Not Qualify

1990 – Lahore – Did Not Qualify

1994 – Sydney – Did Not Qualify

1998 – Utrecht – 11^th place

2002 – Kuala Lumpur – 8^th place

2006 – Monchengladbach – Did Not Qualify

2010 - New Delhi - Did Not Qualify 

MALAYSIA HAS KIWI HEADACHE AT JWC

The International Hockey Federation (FIH) served a surprise by making changes to the groupings for the Junior World Cup.

Initially Malaysia were grouped together with Pakistan, England and South Africa in Group D for the tournament that will be held at the Dyan Chand Stadium in New Delhi fromDecember 6 to 15.

However Pakistan has now been moved to Group A together with Germany, Belgium and Egypt while Korea who were initially in Group A moves to Group C together with Holland, India and Canada, thus New Zealand taking over Pakistan’s spot in Group D.

“We are surprised with the changes in groupings made but really it does not affect us at all,” said team manager Mirnawan Nawawi.

“But I am sure Pakistan will have a lot to say as will Korea as they are in a tough group. As for us it makes no difference between Pakistan or New Zealand as we have played both these teams before and know what to expect.”

Malaysia will open their campaign on December 6 against New Zealand and take on South Africa the next day. They play England on December 9 to complete their group matches.

Only the top two teams move into the last eight and the teams from Group D will play those in Group C, and this is where the problem begins for Malaysia.

For the two teams expected to take the top two spots are India and Holland, both whom are tough to beat. However the Malaysian Juniors have shown that if they play up to expectations, no team can stop them.

Malaysia will play India in three matches in New Delhi on October 17, 19 and 20^th and should be able to gain more insights into the team that defeated them 3-0 at the recent Sultan of Johor Cup.

And for the Junior World Cup proper, Malaysia will leave for the Indian capital on December 5, giving them ample time to adjust to the winter conditions.

 

Group A

Germany, Pakistan, Belgium, Egypt

Group B

Australia, Spain, Argentina, France

Group C

Holland, Korea, India, Canada

Group D

New Zealand, England, South Africa, Malaysia

Note: Quarterfinals will be top two teams with Group A to meet Group B while Group C will meet Group D

NEW POOLS FOR JWC

Malaysia are placed in Group D of the Junior World Cup in New Delhi along with New Zealand, England and South Africa and not Pakistan as reported earlier.

They open their campaign against New Zealand on December 6, followed by South Africa the next day while ending the pool matches against England on December 9.

And in the quarters, Malaysia will play either India or Holland who are expected to top Group C.

More later...

ROYAL APPROVAL FOR HOCKEY 5's

 

 

The Hockey 5’s event staged by UPM Sports Academy in collobaration with Milo and Sports Unite received the royal thumbs up from Malaysian Hockey Confederation president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah.

 

A total of 12 teams took part in the event staged at the UPM Mini Turf and it is promoted actively by the International Hockey Federation (FIH).

 

“This is a good start and I hope more such events will be held all over the country,” said Tengku Abdullah.

 

“We shall leave it to those interested to promote this event and MHC will also get the states to organise such events.”

 

Tengku Abdullah said that he was taking the hands on approach to determine the training program of the various national teams as well and a meeting of all coaches will be held on Monday.

 

“I want to listen directly to their plans and issues and find a way out. Next year is an important year for hockey.”

 

Results:

 

Special Awards (Boys)

Fairplay: 1MAS KL B

Best Player: Mohd Shafirul Akmal Saiful (1MAS KL A)

Best Goalkeeper: Mohd Amirul Aswad (1MAS KL A)

Top Scorer: Mohd Shafirul Akmal Saiful (1MAS KL A)

 

Special Awards (Girls)

Fairplay: Bukit Bandaraya Girls

Best Player: Kirandit Kaur  (Bukit Bandaraya Girls)

Best Goalkeeper: Ramayani Rosli ( Gombak Avengers)

Top Scorer: Norsyaza Afikah (Bukit Bandaraya Girls)

 

Boys

 

Final

1MAS KL A 4 1MAS KL B 0

 

3/4^th Placing

Gombak Viper 3 Sebastari Boys 0

 

Girls

 

Final

SMK Bukit Bandaraya 3 Gombak Avengers 0

 

3/4^th Placing

 

SMK Sri Pantai 1 Sebastari Girls 0

UNPAID DUES

 

The Razak Cup final was played on September 15. But some three weeks later the teams have yet to receive their prize money from the Malaysian Hockey Confederation.

And this has irked the affiliates of MHC who want to know why the delay in making out the payments.

For the record Perak won the Razak Cup with Kuala Lumpur as runner up with Malacca in third placing and Negri Sembilan finishing fourth.

In Division One, Selangor emerged champions, with Armed Forces in second spot while Royal Malaysian Police were third.

Perak were to receive RM10, 000, KL RM7, 000 while Selangor and ATM were to receive RM5, 000 and RM4, 000 respectively.

“I cannot understand why it takes MHC so long to make payments for the prize money. It is a simple process and teams could have been paid the same day itself as the amount is fixed,” said an irate state HA Secretary who asked not to be named for fear of repercussions.

“It is not as if we are demanding but these are simple matters that are being made difficult.

“This goes out to show the administration in MHC is weak and we hope that something can be done to overcome this.”

MHC Vice President M. Gobinathan who is the Chairman of the MHC Competitions Committee confirmed that the teams had yet to receive the prize money and assured them that he would look into the matter.

“Our Treasurer (Dato Anarul) was indisposed due to illness and steps are being taken to pay the teams soon,” said Gobinathan.

“On the part of our Committee, we are looking into resolving this and to ensure that a more systematic method is adopted in future.”

FAEEZ AKA PETAK PULLS OUT OF NATIONAL TEAM

Former national juniors skipper Mohd Noor Faeez Ibrahim has opted to withdraw from the national squad to concentrate on his studies.

The 22 year old was recalled to the national training squad by coach Paul Revington after being left out for the last five months.

Though he was named into the training squad of 30 by Revington on September 20, Faeez failed to turn up for the training camp that commenced on September 30.

He however held a discussion with Revington on Tuesday and was scheduled to hold another discussion with regards to his timetable at the university but opted to withdraw today, informing Revington of his decision via email.

It is however ironic that Faeez took some two weeks to come to such a decision when he could have stated his stand and allow another player to be called up as replacement.

“Faeez sent me an email to say that he will not be able to join that national training squad as he wants to concentrate on his studies,” said Revington.

“The decision was entirely his and although I was uite prepared to listen and make minor adjustments to fit him in, I suppose he has the reasons for withdrawing from the squad.

“Honestly I would have loved to have a talent like him in the squad but since he has decided otherwise, I will respect his decision.”

With drawing from the current training squad means that Faeez will in all probability has lost his chance of making the grade for the World Cup training squad.

Revington has left out five players from the current national juniors squad to allow them to concentrate on the Junior World Cup in New Delhi that will be held from December 6-15.

The current training squad comprises of some players that were recalled and other fringe players like Faeez who had the talent to push for a place in the World Cup training squad of 30 to be named in January.

The national team is scheduled to play in the Super 9’s in Perth (October 17-20), the AHF Champions Trophy (in Japan from 1-9 November) and a Test Series in Korea this December.

With no major domestic tournaments over the next three months, the doors of the national team are likely to be closed on Faeez to convince Revington of another chance.