News for 7 January 2009
Wednesday, 07 January 2009 10:38 | 
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All the News for Wednesday 7 January 2009
2010 women's World Cup to be held in Rosario
BUENOS AIRES: The 2010 women's field hockey World Cup will be held in the Argentinian city of Rosario, birthplace of world player of the year and national captain Luciana Aymar, it was announced by the mayor Miguel Lifschitz on Tuesday.
Lifschitz said that the tournament could take place anytime from August to December with 12 teams competing.
He added that the playing surface for the two pitches to be used in the tournament was obliged to be synthetic - though they already had one after it was built for the 2004 Champions Trophy while the other one required would have to be built.
According to Lifschitz the tournament would be the most important sporting event of the year in Argentina, coming 200 years after the first government independent of Spanish rule took over the country.
The Times of India
Indian Oil in semifinals
Special Correspondent
KOLKATA: Last year’s semifinalist Indian Oil completed the semifinal line-up by getting the better of Eastern Railway Sports Association (ERSA) by a solitary first half goal in Pool B of the quarterfinal league of the Coal India 113th all-India Beighton Cup hockey tournament at the SAI ground on Tuesday.
Indian Oil thus topped the group. In a Pool A league match, Punjab and Sind Bank (PSB) and Punjab Police (PP) drew 1-1 in the last encounter. The draw enabled PSB gain the group championship.
After a day’s rest, the semifinals would be played on Thursday. Punjab Police would take on Indian Oil and PSB would clash with Punjab Sports Club. The final is slated for Friday.
In an inconsequential pool A game, Tamil Nadu XI downed East Coast Railways 3-2.
The results: Pool A: Punjab Police 1 (Satwinder Singh 63rd) drew with Punjab and Sind Bank 1 (Mandeep Singh, 66th); Tamil Nadu XI 3 (Adam Sinclair 1st, Philip Martin 47th and 68th) bt East Coast Railway (L. Kumar 10th and 49th). Pool B: Indian Oil 1 (Hamza Muztaba 9th) bt ERSA 0.
The Hindu
Rules Changes 2009
At meetings towards the end of 2008, the FIH Executive Board agreed proposals from the Hockey Rules Board for rules changes in 2009.
One of the changes focuses on a “self-pass” from a free hit. In essence, this enables the player taking the free hit to play the ball again after taking the free hit. This will encourage free-flowing hockey. An associated rule change will stop attacking free hits taken inside the 23 metres area from being played directly and potentially dangerously into the circle. Both changes will be introduced as mandatory experimental rules with effect from 1 May 2009 for international hockey.
The detailed text for these rules is currently being drafted and will be published as soon as possible. To ensure that application of these new rules is consistent and accurate, no more information about these rules will be published until the final rules text is available.
WorldHockey
Williams turns bad into good
By Graham Wilson
KERRY WILLIAMS could easily have taken the “bad route” when she was young. Instead she took up hockey and is now showing children how sport can open doors to a new life.
Williams, who is in the running for a 2012 place for Great Britain in the London Olympics, is an athlete mentor for the Youth Sports Trust in association with the Sky Sports Living for Sport scheme dealing with schools in the Midlands and around Liverpool.
She has just returned from the WASA Cup indoor tournament in Copenhagen where she scored a hat-trick for Wessex Leopards in a 7-3 final win over Denmark, after beating Sweden 8-2 in the semi-final.
She goes on to Valencia next week with a GB squad for three outdoor Tests against Spain. She said: “I have been working with children who have a low esteem of themselves, naughty ones who misbehave, and we use the tools of sport to change all that. It’s my second year in the role and it is just great to see the change in children when they find someone who believes in them.
“I was naughty as a kid. I could easily have gone the wrong way. But hockey taught me a lot about life. I ended up getting top A level results because of my sport.
“It has opened up a lot of doors for me in competing, travelling and meeting people. I am one of nine mentors along with badminton’s Gail Emms, who went to Beijing. We also go to gifted and talented camps.
I go around the country working about 80 days a year which can fit in with my training. The children we work with just sit in awe when you tell them what can be achieved.”
Williams, 22, plays as an inside forward for top club Leicester and just missed out on GB coach Danny Kerry’s final squad for Beijing. She is aiming for a Champions Trophy place with England in Sydney in July.
“My ambition is obviously to make 2012 and to make the starting line-up in all the tournaments in between.”
Coach Kerry said: “We are going to use her in a different position that may make better use of her strengths. Overall, we want to generate competition for places.”
Daily Express
MHF remains tight-lipped
Ajitpal Singh
THE Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) remains tight-lipped over the foreign coach to helm the national senior team but its president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah said a candidate will likely be hired in the next 24 hours.
"In principle, an agreement has been reached with the foreign candidate through a third party. We tried to reach him today (yesterday) but failed. We will need to speak to him first and will try again tomorrow (today)," said Tengku Abdullah after chairing the MHF management meeting at a leading hotel in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
"The candidate is very interested and the federation will need to speak to him on a contract agreement. I can't reveal the identity just yet but what I can promise you is that he's a person with credentials.
"The candidate will start work as soon as possible if an agreement is reached."
Tengku Abdullah had noted recently that three foreign candidates were short-listed for the coaching job. The aspirants he mentioned are from Europe, Asia and Australia.
Several foreign coaches including South Korean Kim Sang Ryul have been linked with the job.
However, an insider revealed that the candidate is an Australian but none wanted to confirm this. Meanwhile, national players including those in the junior squad, will be barred from representing clubs in the Malaysian Hockey League Division Two and Three, starting next month.
The MHL Division Two and Three competitions are Under-19 events replacing the Junior Hockey League. Each division will consist 10 teams.
Tengku Abdullah said national players cannot commit to the league due to international assignments.
"The seniors have the Azlan Shah Cup and Asia Cup (May 8-15) to prepare for while the junior team are getting into shape for the Junior World Cup (June 7-21)," he said.
The Division One, consisting of 10 teams, starts in June while the Premier League is scheduled for between October and November.
Tengku Abdullah said the federation is hoping to get a minimum of six teams for the Premier League.
"Ideally, we are hoping for eight teams but it will go on if there's only six. It's important that the teams competing in the Premier League are of equal standard.
"Clubs in the Premier League can hire players, both the seniors and juniors," he added.
Meanwhile, a Four-Nation Junior tournament will be played in Johor Baru as a trial run for the Junior World Cup.
"We have invited Pakistan, India and Germany and will confirm the dates later," Tengku Abdullah confirmed.
Tengku Abdullah also said that the Junior World Cup draw has been conducted and it will be released by the International Hockey Federation (IHF) soon.
The national hockey team started centralised training under caretaker coach Tai Beng Hai yesterday in preparation for the Azlan Shah Cup on April 3-12.
New Straits Times
Foreign PHF Consultant Wouter Tazelaar arrives in Pakistan
The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) recruited Wouter Tazelaar from Netherlands as its consultant. During his first official trip to Pakistan Tazelaar will visit all the eleven centers of PHF Hockey Academies.
He will observe the short listed players and will also deliver the lectures to the academies coaches. The schedule of visits of Wouter Tazelaar will be announced later.
Dutch Consultant of PHF Wouter Tazelaar is in contract with PHF for two years. Under the contract Tazelaar will stay in Pakistan 260 days in a year. Wouter Tazelaar have introduced a software of hockey academies and his software is now implemented in various countries including Europe.
Pakistan Hockey Federation media release
National Hockey Championship begins from 23
Staff Report
LAHORE: The 56th National Hockey Championship will be held from January 23 to February 5 here at the National Hockey Stadium.
“The preliminary round of the event will be played from January 23-28 while the final round will be played at the same venue,” said a spokesman for the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) here on Tuesday.
He said the PHF had invited 17 departmental teams along with teams of four provinces and capital Islamabad.
“The 22 participating teams have been divided into four pools and draws of the event will be announced shortly,” he added.
The invited departments are Pakistan WAPDA, Sui Southern Gas, PTV, Pakistan Air Force (PAF), Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), Pakistan Customs, Pakistan Police, Pakistan Navy, National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), Pakistan Army, Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC), POF, Port Qasim, Habib Bank Limited (HBL), Pakistan Railways, Higher Education Commission (HEC) and Pakistan Steel Mills.
The Daily Times
Team to leave sans a goalkeeping coach
DESPITE their poor track record in the past few years, women’s hockey has been in the safe zone for quite some time now. On paper the Indian Olympic Association ( IOA) may be the new bearers of hockey in the country but the change in power has not affected the Indian Women’s Hockey Association (IWHF) as the same administrators remain in control.
Last year the IWHF faced much criticism, from the selection of their coach to the payment of dues to players and also the ageold problem of team selection.
While chief coach MK Kaushik’s return was seen as a positive change, the teams received another jolt before their tour to Argentina with goalkeeping coach AB Subbaiah quitting his post.
Subbaiah had earlier quit the post after the 2006 Doha Asian Games after his wife fell seriously ill but then, after some coaxing by the federation officials, he returned in 2007.
What the Papers Say Today - Stick2Hockey.com
No room for hockey players
ARUN KUMAR THAKUR
Ranchi, Dec. 19: With two months left for the 34th National Games, the Jharkhand Women’s Hockey Association (JWHA) is worried.
With slim chances of holding camps on the astroturf, accommodation problems are also bothering them.
For almost a year now, the girls have not had access to an astroturf for practice, though hockey has always brought pride to the state.
Coaches feel that the state is likely to win a gold or another medal in women’s hockey.
“The main astroturf would be ready by the month-end and we could start on the second phase of coaching in the first week of January, but where do we accommodate 45 girls?” said JWHA president Mridula Sinha.
The astroturf complex has plenty of rooms and halls but none are available for hockey players. Equipment for Games are stored at the astroturf complex. This rules out rooms on the ground floor for players.
On the first floor hall a couple of thousand of volunteers for the Games would be trained, said an official.
Accommodating 45 girls in some dharmashala would not be feasible because of various reasons, including getting them to the stadium for coaching.
Besides, JWHA officials are also not happy with the practice turf and said it was ladi without consulting them.
The National Games are slated to begin on February 15, 2009.
What the Papers Say Today - Stick2Hockey.com