Skip to main content

Uphill Task For National Squad To Win Title

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 25 (Bernama) -- Despite the absence of the world's top teams at the 18th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, the national squad are still expected to face an uphill task against four other teams competing this year.

In the draw, released today, the national team under interim coaches Tai Beng Hai and Nor Saiful Zaini, take on Pakistan, world number eight, in their opening match on April 5.

Pakistan, winner of the trophy three times before (1999, 2000, 2003) and who finished fourth last year are said to be sending a strong 40-member team which includes four times former Olympians Sohail Abbas, Waseem Ahmad, Rehan Butt and Salman Albar.

In their second match on April 6, Malaysia, now ranked 15 in the world, take on Egypt who are ranked five places below.

But while the Egyptians are not expected to pose a major threat, the April 8 match against another three-time winner (1985, 1991, 1995) and last year's runner-up, India (ranked 11th) is expected to be a tough one.

The national team complete their fixtures in the tournament which uses the round-robin system due to the reduced participation, against world number seven New Zealand, the highest ranked team in the tournament.

To win the title, Malaysia who have never won the tournament since its inception in 1983, must top the five-team table.

Last year's winner Argentina and hockey powers like five-time winner Australia, two-time winner West Germany, South Korea and Holland turned down invitations citing the world economic showdown forcing the tournament to go on with only five nations, the lowest participation since the tournament's inception in 1983.

The 18th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup will held at the Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Stadium in Ipoh from April 6-12.

-- BERNAMA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ex-coach's jail sentence cut to a year

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal yesterday sentenced former athletics coach C. Ramanathan to 12 months' jail for molesting two junior athletes 19 years ago. A three-man bench led by Datuk Mohd Hishamudin Mohd Yunus unanimously dismissed Ramanathan's appeal against conviction, but varied the jail sentence of four years to a year, which was to run concurrently. Following yesterday's ruling, Ramanathan, 75, a former teacher, walked out a free man as he had served 10 months in Kajang Prison. Convicts get one-third remission for good behaviour while in prison. However, he will lose his pension. Hishamudin, who sat with Datuk Abdul Wahab Patail and Datuk Linton Albert, said the court found no merit to overturn the conviction. "However, in reducing the sentence, we considered Ramanathan's age and the long years the appeal has taken." Deputy public prosecutor Awang Armadajaya Awang Mahmud submitted that then High Court judge Tan Sri Abdull Hamid E...
2 comments
Read more

Govt Always Gives Emphasis To Sporting Culture, Says PM

KUALA TERENGGANU, May 29 (Bernama) -- Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badaw i said the government always gives emphasis on cultivating a strong sporting culture in achieving excellence at the international level. As such, the Prime Minister said, it was important to scout for young talents in sports. "I observe that the Malaysia Games (Sukma) has become one of the important platforms to do so. "In this arena, the potentials and skills of the youngsters can be identified for development so that they can achieve greater success in sports," he said in his message in the souvenir book of the 12th Sukma from May 31 until June 9. Abdullah said he was aware that competition in sports was very keen and challenging but this did not mean that Malaysian athletes were incapable of competing at the international level. "The fact is that we have all the characteristics required to be excellent. We must inculcate a strong fighting spirit so that we don't easily surrender,...
1 comment
Read more

Rajagobal Let Off The Hook

PETALING JAYA, April 24 (Bernama) -- National head coach Datuk K. Rajagobal was let off the hook by the Football Association of Malaysia's (FAM) Disciplinary Committee after finding no evidence that he had violated FAM's Article 88, as claimed. FAM Disciplinary Committee chairman Datuk Taufik Abdul Razak said the committee had decided not to charge Rajagobal after carefully analysing the video of the post-match press conference by the 56-year-old coach. "After listening to the recording of the post-match press conference, we decided to drop the charge against Rajagopal as he did not make such a statement. "Maybe his (Rajagobal) assessment and comments of the match was misconstrued by the media. There was no mention of the FAM policy throughout his comments," said Taufik after emerging from a three-hour Disciplinary Committee meeting at Wisma FAM in Kelana Jaya, here, Wednesday. Rajagobal who does not mince his words when asked to com...
4 comments
Read more