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

U-14 :: Perak, KL the teams to beat in U-14 tourney

Last year’s finalists Perak and Kuala Lumpur will start as favourites in the national Under-14 hockey championship, which begins today at the Kuantan Hockey Stadium.

But both teams are wary of the threat from the east coast sides, who usually challenge strongly in age-group level competitions.

KL coach K. Rajan said that no team could be taken lightly in an age-group meet.

“Therefore, it means nothing when Perak and KL are installed as the top seeds. Teams with good development programmes will be strong challengers and the east coast sides will be the main threat,” he said.

KL have former champions Terengganu in Group B along with Malacca, Selangor and Negri Sembilan.

Defending champions Perak will be up against Pahang and Kelantan in Group A, which also has Penang and Perlis.

Matches in the championships will be held at two venues – the Kuantan Hockey Stadium and the Sukpa Hockey Stadium.

KL have yet to win the Under-14 national tournament and Rajan is hoping that they will go one step further this time.

Fixtures

Today: Perak vs Pahang (3pm), Penang vs Kelantan (5pm) K. Lumpur vs N. Sembilan (7.30pm), Selangor vs Malacca (9.30pm). – Kuantan Hockey Stadium.