Affiliates in the dark over Under-16 hockey tourney

This year’s Under-16 hockey tournament is in a real mess.

Consider this.

The Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) had set March 8-16 as the dates for the tournament to be held in Penang.

Last month, Penang informed the MHF executive committee that they wanted to change the dates. The committee shot down the proposal and said they would hold it on the same dates at a different venue.

Until now, the MHF have not informed the states of the new hosts.

To make matters more confusing, the Sukan Teras unit of the National Sports Council (NSC) have told certain states that the tournament has been postponed.

This has led to states like Negri Sembilan to scrap their Under-16 inter-district tournaments.

“This is all simply confusing. We have been trying to get some answers but nothing is forthcoming from the MHF. All we are being told is that we will be informed later,” said one state secretary.

MHF secretary Hashim Mohamed Yusof could not be reached for comment yesterday.

This is not the first time Penang have created such a mess.

Last year, they were picked to host the Under-21 tournament. They kept postponing it until the MHF decided to call it off.

But MHF deputy president Tunku Abdul Majid Idris then stepped in and forced the competitions committee to hold the tournament in Kuala Lumpur in late December.

Is it going to be a case of deja-vu?