Skip to main content

HOCKEY: MHL needs a makeover

HE Malaysian Hockey League (MHL) could be re-branded next year to attract more teams for the annual competition which is on the decline due to poor response.

Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) secretary Johari Aziz said a re-branding exercise will likely be done to make the league more attractive next year.

"The league has potential but we need to upgrade it. We could change the format or invite foreign teams to make it more exciting and competitive," said Johari after the MHL team managers' meeting at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil yesterday.

The league, which began in the late 1980s, used to attract a large participation but of late, teams have been staying away due to budget constraint.

In 2010, 16 teams played in the league but only 14 registered for the competition last season. The upcoming season, which starts on Saturday, has attracted only 13 clubs despite MHC's move to increase the prize money from RM350,000 to RM410,000 for the six-week competition which ends on Oct 10.

"There will be no automatic promotion and relegation in the two-tier league as lower-ranked teams are not good enough," Johari added.

"We will look at the standard of the top finishers in Division One before granting them a possible promotion into next season's Premier League. We, however, hope the increase of prize money will make the league competitive."

Only the top four teams in the Premier League, comprising defending champions KL Hockey Club (KLHC), Sapura, Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), Maybank, Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) and Nur Insafi-PHA, will qualify for the TNB Cup (overall title), unlike previous seasons, where the top two in Division One completed the quarter-final field.

Sapura, Maybank and Nur Insafi have signed foreign players while the rest will depend on locals. Pakistan international Muhd Imran and South Korea's former Olympian Lee Jung Seon will play for Sapura while Shakeel Abbasi and Mohd Waqas (both Pakistanis) together with Kiwi Aiden Mitchell have signed with Maybank. Nur Insafi have yet to confirm their foreign signings.

As for Division One teams, comprising Armed Forces, Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS), Politeknik-KPT, Universiti Teknoloji Mara (UiTM), Johor HA, TNB-Thunderbolts and PST-Uniten-KPT, they will play in the newly-introduced President Cup. Johor HA have signed five Qatari internationals for their campaign.

MHC also made changes to the league's opening day fixture after admitting a mistake in drawing out the wrong teams for Saturday's Charity Shield match.

KLHC, last season's league and TNB Cup winners, were initially drawn to play TNB, the TNB Cup runners-up, but according to competition rules if a team win both titles, their opponents in the Charity Shield should be the league runners-up.

"We made a mistake. KLHC will now play last year's league runners-up Sapura," Johari said. By Ajitpal Singh

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

Indonesia Choose Komodo Dragon As SEA Games Mascot

KUALA LUMPUR, April 26 (Bernama) -- Host for the 26th SEA Games, Indonesia has chosen the Komodo dragon as mascot for the 2011 Games which will be held in Jakarta and Palembang from Nov 11 to 25. The Indonesia SEA Games Organizing Committee (Inasoc), was qouted by Jakarta Post as saying that a pair of Komodo dragons, a male (Modo) and a female (Modi), were chosen in recognition of the Republic's conservation efforts to protect the dwindling number of the rare lizard. Modo and Modi were unveiled last night at a function in Jakarta, to mark the 200-day countdown before the games open on Nov 11 in Palembang. The Komodo dragons, the largest lizard in the world, only live on the Indonesian islands of Komodo in Flores, East Nusa Tenggara. On Jan 15, Inasoc unveiled its logo, a Garuda eagle, to symbolize the power and grandeur of Indonesia. Indonesia dominated the Games between 1977, when it first competed, and 1997, failing to top the medal charts only twice in that p...
1 comment
Read more