MHL :: Seasoned Tiger Chairil still roaring

Former international Chairil Anwar is into his 20th season in the Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) and he still has a big part to play for Maybank in the Premier Division.

Chairil made his MHL debut for Kuala Terengganu Municipal Council in 1990. The following season, he was offered a job with Maybank and has since then featured for the Tigers in the MHL.

“It’s a record to have played in the MHL for the 19 years as most players would have retired by age of 35,” said the 37-year-old Terengganu-born forward.

“But I am still fit and can play as well as the good young players. I keep myself fit and will continue to play in the MHL as long as my services are needed.”

Chairil, who scored seven goals for the Tigers last year, added he would go all out to lead the forward-line and score goals from deflections.

“I am good with my deflections and definitely want to be on the score sheet in every match,” said the father of three children, who quit international hockey after the 2002 Busan Asian Games.

Besides Chairil, the other forwards in the team are Hafifihafiz Hanafi, Suhaimi Ibrahim, Hang Edzharsyay Hang Tuah, Mohd Azammi Adabi and Nor Khairul Azrain.

Coach S. Velappan said that Chairil’s services were valuable because of his ability to still play competitive hockey and to guide the younger players in the team.

“He also has good scoring ability from deflections and this will be the plus point for us,” he said.

Maybank finished fourth in a six-team league last year and were third in the overall championship.

The Tigers last won the league title in 1995 and were double champions the previous year. They also won the overall title in 1988 and 1990.

Maybank will open their campaign against Nur Insafi on Saturday at the Tun Razak Stadium.

The other teams in the Premier Division are Sapura, Tenaga Nasional, Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club (KLHC) and University Kuala Lumpur.

the competition takes a carnival atmosphere and besides the Tun Razak Stadium, matches will also be played in Penang, Malacca and Johor Baru.

The league will be played over two rounds with all six teams featuring in the knockout stage, which will also have the top two teams from Division One. The final is scheduled for Feb 12.

U-14 :: KL stun champs Perak to lift U-14 crown

Kuala Lumpur finally bagged their first title in the national Under-14 hockey tournament when they scored a 3-2 golden goal win over defending champions Perak 3-2 in the final at the Kuantan Hockey Stadium yesterday.

It was a repeat of last year’s final but this time the city side prevailed. The match ended 2-2 at regulation time but three minutes into extra time KL popped in the winner to claim their first title in the series.

The hero for the KL side was their penalty corner taker T. Athitsha who scored all three goals. He deservingly was voted the Man-of-the-Match.

KL coach K. Rajan was happy with his players’ commitment as they did not lose their cool despite falling behind at one stage.

“This is the title we have not won and we are glad to have pulled it off. The players did well and they have been improving with each game. Perak made a fight of it but our penalty corners made a difference in the final,” said Rajan.

In fact Perak too relied on the penalty corners for their goal as well.

Athitsha put KL in the lead after just four minutes into the game. Azril Misron put Perak back on level terms in the 23rd minute.

And Mohamed Amar gave the silver state the lead in the 46th minute to put pressure on the KL team.

In the 53rd minute Athitsha turned the match around to score his second goal to make it 2-2 and send the final into extra-time.

Three minutes into extra time saw KL gaining a penalty corner and Athitsha sounded the board to give his team the title.

Negri Sembilan took third place after a 1-0 win over Penang. The solitary goal was scored by Mohamed Ikhwan in the 24th minute.

MHL :: Tigers easily sweep aside foreign-powered Nur Insafi

Maybank swept aside Nur Insafi 5-2 in their opening match in the new Premier Division of the Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) at the Tun Razak Stadium yesterday.

The Nur Insafi team had registered 16 foreign players but only nine arrived for yesterday’s match. The presence of the foreign players did not affect the Tigers as they carved out an easy win.

The Tigers took a three-goal in the first half with three field attempts. Former international Suhaimi Ibrahim started the ball rolling with his attempt in the 22nd minute. This was followed by Mohamed Azammi Adabi and Hafifihafiz Hanafi in the 29th and 33rd minutes respectively

Sundeep Michael pulled a goal for Nur Insafi in the 36th minute but Azammi was on target for the Tiger two minutes later to keep them ahead.

Hairul Niizam made it 5-1 in the 50th minute with a penalty corner goal while Nur Hrisikesa added the second goal for Nur Insafi in the 70th minute.

Seven of Nur Insafi’s foreign players will only come next week. Their foreign players in action yesterday were Bharat Chetri, Kul Bhusant Ramesh Kumar, Sarvan Kumar, Lloyd Ronald Kiran, Sundeep Michael, Vinod Kumar, Mubeen Ur Rahman and Yasir Islam.

Another player Pakistani penalty corner specialist Syed Imran Al Warsi was with the team yesterday but will not be able to play until Dec 15. He is still under contract with a European club and cannot play until then.

Earlier, KL Hockey Club started off their debut season in the MHL with a 3-0 win over another newcomer University Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) in an earlier match.

The first half ended scoreless as both teams failed to create any good goal scoring chances. The match only came alive in the second half as KLHC, parading players from last year’s double winners Ernst and Young, scored thrice to collect full points.

KLHC skipper Azlan Misron started the scoring in the 36th minute from a penalty corner set-piece. This was followed by a field goal from Ismail Abu a minute later.

KLHC then began to dominate the proceedings and increased their lead in the 56th minute when Baljit Singh fired home a penalty corner.

KLHC coach R. Vivekanandan said that the important thing was to secure the three points.

UniKL paraded a lot of young players and they too were happy to have matched their more experienced opponents and not get a hammering.

Their coach I. Vicknesweran said it was an important match for them as they could gauge their strength.

“I am happy that my players showed they can The Premier Division league will resume on Dec 18.”

U-14 :: KL and Perak to meet in repeat U-14 final

Defending champions Perak and Kuala Lumpur set up a repeat final in the national Under-14 hockey tournament after scoring similar 2-1 victories in the semi-finals at the Kuantan Hockey Stadium yesterday.

Kuala Lumpur came from a goal down to edge Penang 2-1 while Perak downed Negri Sembilan 2-1 to set up a repeat of last year’s final.

And this time around, KL look good enough to win their first ever Under-14 title.

KL coach K. Rajan said his players have been showing improvement in each match and in fact could have won by a bigger margin against Penang in the semi-final.

“I am confident that we will do well in the final. We want to win the title and playing Perak will give us a chance to exact revenge for last year’s defeat,” said Rajan.

In yesterday’s semi-final, Penang took the lead in the 14th minute through a field goal by Mohamed Rahimi.

Mohamed Zulhafiq equalised for KL with a field goal two minutes before the end of the first half.

KL continued their aggressive play in the second half and was rewarded with the winner in the 52nd minute Nor Shafiq slotted home a penalty corner goal to put his team in the final.

Penang had gone into the match as the only unbeaten team after the preliminary round.

In the second match Negri were the favourites after their good showing in the preliminary round. And as expected they took the lead in the ninth minute through Badrul Hisham off a field attempt.

But Perak were back on level terms just two minutes later with a penalty corner strike from Mohamed Akhran.

The winner came in the 53rd minute when Mohamed Najib scored a field goal. And after that Perak held sway for the last 15 minutes to qualify for their second consecutive final.

MHL :: MHF bank on six-team league to re-ignite waning interest

Tenaga National and Sapura will provide the opening fireworks for the Premier Division of the Malaysian Hockey League (MHL) at the Tun Razak Stadium here today.

The six-team league offers new ingredients that may well re-ignite interest in an ailing competition.

Besides the two former champions, the other teams in the fray are Maybank, Nur Insafi and two newcomers Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club (KLHC) and University Kuala Lumpur (UniKL).

And for the first time, matches will be played on a carnival basis and the other venues of competition are in Johor, Penang and Malacca.

The Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) will bear the transportation cost and provide lodgings for travelling sides.

For the first time too, there will be live television coverage of preliminary round matches with the clash between Tenaga and Sapura coming on at 8.30pm on Astro Channel 816.

The MHF secretary, Hashim Mohamed Yusof, said that they hope the new features would lead to bigger things for the MHL.

“We want to generate greater interest in the MHL in other states. We hope that it will lead more teams to compete in the Premier Division,” he said.

“For now, we have six teams to keep the quality high. But if more teams can find the money to get good players, we will increase the numbers in the top flight. We are experimenting and hopefully we will see a keener competition this year.”

Although KLHC are the new kids on the block, they can be counted as one of the favourites to win the title. The club have all the players from the double-winning Ernst and Young side last year. Ernst and Young have decided to stop taking part in the MHL.

Penang outfit Nur Insafai are the other team coming in for attention. They have hired 16 foreign players in their rank, including star players in Pakistan’s Mohamed Nadeem and India’s V. S. Vinaya.

And whether they are really the team to beat this season will be indicated in their opening match against Maybank tomorrow.

Tenaga coach Nor Saiful Zaini said yesterday that the MHL was heading in the right direction with the changes but more must be done to ensure it remained competitive.

“I think it is a more open affair in the race for the title. This will allow for some good matches and create greater interest among the fans,” he said.

“The MHL had been dominated by a few teams for a long time. Let us hope that it will a change this year.”

The main reason for a few teams hogging the limelight previous was their financial resources to buy the best players.

But this year’s league will see the inclusion of more juniors in teams to even out the field. And with Nur Insafi adding the foreign glamour, this season’s MHL may well turn out to be the best in the series.

U-14 :: Champions Perak edge Kelantan to move into semis

Defending champions Perak booked a semi-final berth from Group A of the national Under-14 hockey tournament with a hard-fought 3-2 win over Kelantan at the Kuantan Hockey Stadium yesterday.

Penang have already booked their berth with a match in hand after having won all three previous matches and they are joined in the semi-finals by Group B qualifiers Negri Sembilan and Kuala Lumpur.

Perak had Mohamed Sahfiqzul to thank for scoring the winning goal in the 65th minute. The other scorers for Perak were Mohamed Najib (5th) and Mohamed Ashran (15th). Kelantan got their goals through Faiz Mohamed Zain (6th) and Mohamed Aminuddin (38th).

Perak will play against Negri tomorrow for a place in the final.

Negri kept up their fine run with a 3-1 win over Terengganu. Mohamed Ikhwan opened the scoring in the eighth minute and Mohamed Fakhrul Radzi chalked up a brace in the 29th and 63rd minutes. Terengganu’s consolation goal was scored by Mohamed Firas in the 65th minute.

KL had to endure a long wait to book their place in the semi-finals. Their match against Malacca scheduled for 7.30am was abandoned because of rain.

It was played in the evening and rain again caused the match to be abandoned in the second half with KL leading 2-0. The result stands and it took KL into the semi-finals.

Group A: Pahang 0 Perlis 1; Kelantan 2 Perak 3.

Group B: Malacca 0 K. Lumpur 2; N. Sembilan 3 Terengganu 1.

Group A: Penang vs Perlis (7.30am); Kelantan vs Pahang (3pm).

Group B: Selangor vs Terengganu (9.30am), Malacca vs N. Sembilan (5pm).

MHL :: It’s old hands against young guns when Sapura take on Tenaga

It will be an experience versus youth match-up when former champions Tenaga Nasional play against Sapura in the opening Premier Division match of the Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) here today.

Sapura have retained almost their entire team from last year with three new players while Tenaga have six youngsters to combine with six national stars.

Sapura coach S. Prakash said yesterday that although Tenaga have a relatively young side, they could still be counted as favourites.

“For us, the experience of our seasoned players will be the key. I expect a close match,” said Prakash.

“I do not think we can make a prediction on the winners because opening matches can be full of surprises,” he said.

The newcomers in the Sapura team are Azreen Rizal, Mohamed Marhan Mohamed Jalil and Ahmad Kazamirul Nasruddin. Their seasoned campaigners are S. Kuhan, Nishel Kumar, Mohamed Rodhanizam Radzi, S. Shanker, Jivan Mohan, Reduan Ponirin and Mohamed Redza Maadun.

National defender Jiwa Mohan is listed in the team and it will only be known this morning whether he arrives in time from Perth.

Tenaga coach Nor Saiful Zaini said that with many young players in the team, the task was to stay focused on winning the match and not playing to the gallery.

“Sapura know how to deal with situations and they will punish you for any mistake,” he said.

The national stars in the Tenaga side are goalkeeper S. Kumar, Mohamed Amin Rahim, Mohamed Madzli Ikmar, S. Selvaraju, Baljit Singh and newcomer Faizal Saari.

And providing the youth element are Shahril Irwan Nazli, Mohamed Nor Hafiq Abdul Ghaffar, Mohamed Anwar Ali, Mohamed Jamil Saidin, Izwan Firdaus.

“I think what is important for us is to click as a team. I have not set any big target for the team and there will be no real pressure on them. We will take one match at a time,” said Saiful.

U-14 :: Unbeaten Penang on course for a place in the semis

Mohamed Rahimi Iskandar scored a hat-trick in Penang’s 6-1 win over Pahang in a Group A match of the national Under-14 hockey tournament at the Kuantan Hockey Stadium yesterday.

Penang now have maximum points from three matches after having defeated Kelantan (4-1) and defending champions Perak (2-1) earlier and they need a draw against winless Perlis in their final group fixture tomorrow to seal a place in the semi-finals.

Rahimi was on target in the 13th, 44th and 55th minutes and the other scorers for Penang were Mohd Azwar Abdul Rahman (16th, 26th) and Aidil Zasri (67th). Pahang got their goal through Mohd Shazrun in the 31st minute.

Perak beat Perlis 2-0 with goals by Mohd Zulhamizan (15th) and Mohd Najib Abu Hassan (40th) to keep their hopes alive to reach the semi-finals. They need to beat Kelantan today to advance.

In a Group B, Negri Sembilan chalked up their second straight win — beating Selangor 4-3.

Mohd Ikhwan Ishak scored a hat-trick (29th, 40th, 49th) for Negri and Aireq Azrul got the other goal (60th). The scorers for Selangor were Mohd Izzat Ikmal (20th), Mohd Shamy Abdul Fouzi (57th) and Nazrul Mubin (67th).

Negri, who beat Kuala Lumpur 2-0 in the first match, have two matches to play against Terengganu today and Malacca tomorrow.

Results

Group A: Pahang 1 Penang 6; Perlis 0 Perak 2.

Group B: N. Sembilan 4 Selangor 3; Terengganu 1 K. Lumpur 7.

Today's fixtures

Group A: Pahang vs Perlis (9am); Kelantan vs Perak (5pm).

Group B: Malacca vs K. Lumpur (7.30am); N. Sembilan vs Terengganu (3pm).

* All matches at the Kuantan Hockey Stadium

U-14 :: Penang upset defending champs Perak

Penang chalked up their second consecutive win in the national Under-14 hockey tournament when they edged defending champions Perak 2-1 in a Group A match at the Kuantan Hockey Stadium yesterday.

Penang, who defeated Kelantan 4-1 on Sunday, went on the offensive and were 2-0 up after 14 minutes of the play with goals by Mohd Izzudan Halim (fourth) and Mohd Rahimi Iskandar. Perak pulled a goal back with a 23rd-minute penalty corner goal by Mohd Najib Abu Hassan.

Perak, who outplayed Pahang 5-1 in their opening match, need to beat Perlis today to stay in hunt for a place in the semi-finals.

Kelantan bounced back from their opening match defeat by Penang with a 7-0 rout of Perlis. Faiz Mohd Zain was score a hat-trick (32nd, 34th, 38th) and the other goals came from Mohd Sofieyudin (20th), Mohd Zafwan (52nd), Mohd Safami (54th) and Mohd Fitri Zaidi (62nd).

In Group B, Terengganu came back from a goal down to edge Malacca 3-2.

Malacca led with a seventh-minute goal by Lee Eu Jin but Terengganu stormed back to score three goals in the second half through Mohamed Firan Termizi (36th), Nik Mohamed Aiman (44th) and Mohamed Sufi Ismat (60th). Mohamed Zul Hilmi narrowed the deficit for Malacca in the 62nd minute.

Selangor Hockey League 2009 Fixtures

1st December 2009 (Tuesday)
8.00pm IIUM Mustang vs SMKDJ
6.00pm SMKPP vs RAMD Juniors

2nd December 2009 (Wednesday)
7.30pm SMKDJ vs Selangor Polis Veteran
9.00pm Selangor Polis vs MBPJ

3rd December 2009 (Thursday)
26 3-Dec 8.00pm SHP 1 OLAK vs RAMD

4th December 2009 (Friday)
24 4-Dec 8.00pm SHP 1 Selangor Sikh vs UiTM

5th December 2009 (Saturday)
4.00pm IIUM Staff vs Synergy HC
5.30pm Polyteknik S.Alam vs SMKDJ
7.00pm Selangor Sikh vs Selangor Polis
8.30pm Selangor Polis Veteran vs SMKPP

6th December 2009 (Sunday)
8.00am SMKDJ vs IIUM Staff
4.00pm RAMD Juniors vs Selangor Polis Veteran
5.30pm UiTM vs Selangor Polis
7.00pm JUPEM vs PSKPP
(All matches at Pandamaran Stadium, Klang)

8th December 2009 (Tuesday)

QuaterFinal

9th December 2009 (Wednesday)

QuaterFinal

15th December 2009 (Tuesday)

SemiFinal

16th December 2009 (Wednesday)

SemiFinal

U-14 :: Champs Perak start off with a resounding win

Perak began their defence of the national Under-14 hockey title with a 5-1 rout of Pahang in a Group A match at the Kuantan Hockey Stadium yesterday.

Mohamed Najib opened accounts for Perak in the third minute and goals by Mohamed Zulhamizan (8th) and Nor Ikhwan (14th) gave their team a 3-0 first-half lead. Perak scored second-half goals through Mohamed Khairul Adha (34th) and Mohamed Ikhwan Rashid (40th) before Mohamed Adil Syaffiq pulled a goal back for Pahang in the 64th minute.

In Group B, last year’s runners-up Kuala Lumpur slumped to an opening match defeat (0-2) by Negri Sembilan.

Field goals from Mohamed Fakhrul Radzi and Mohamed Ikhwan Ishak in the 23rd and 42nd minutes respectively gave Negri full points.

However, KL coach K. Rajan took the defeat in his stride and said that his team would bounce back in their remaining group matches.

“The top two teams make the semi-finals and we are not out of it yet. The defeat by Negri has made our task a little harder but we will be back on track, starting with the match against Selangor tomorrow,” he said.

In another Group A match, Penang also flexed their muscles with a 4-1 win over Kelantan while Malacca and Selangor played to a 1-1 draw in Group B.

Mohamed Rahimi and Mohamed Azuah Abdul Rahman scored a brace each for Penang while Mohamed Sazuan was on target for Kelantan.

Results

Group A: Perak 5 Pahang 1; Penang 4 Kelantan 1.

Group B: K. Lumpur 0 N. Sembilan 2; Malacca 1 Selangor 1.

Today's fixtures

Group A: Perlis vs Kelantan (9am), Perak vs Penang (5pm).

Group B: Terengganu vs Malacca (7.30am); K. Lumpur vs Selangor (3pm),

* All matches at the Kuantan Hockey Stadium