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All the news for Thursday 26 March 2009

France takes revenge against Ireland

France took revenge against Ireland, winning the second match 1-0. The boys in green will no doubt be disappointed with the defeat after the match one day earlier which was a festival of goals (8-2 to Ireland).

Despite dominating play for long periods of the match and with the majority of possession Ireland could not find the golden touch which seemed to come so easily to them last night. Ireland opened the match with confidence and after just five minutes of play defender Lewis set an oncoming Watkins up for a chance but the pass flashed just past his stick.

Ireland continued to display great cohesion as the midfielders and forwards in particular interchanged passes with ease as they weaved past Les Bleu but they were eternally short of the final shot. The French looked like they might sneak ahead against the run of play in the 33rd minute when they were awarded the only penalty corner of the half but the resulting shot was easily saved by Lennox in goals.

Half Time Ireland 0 - 0 France

The French continued in the same vein the left off winning their second penalty corner courtesy of Martin-Brisac who took full advantage of a speedy break when he found a green foot in the circle, but the execution was poor and the sides remained scoreless.

The only goal of the game finally came in the 59th minute when Matthieu Durchon pounced on a stray ball for a half volley connection to fire into the back of the net.

Ireland finally won a penalty corner with just a minute and a half remaining but the usually clinical Sothern's put his drag flick just wide of the post.

Ireland – France 0-1 (0-0) Goal: Matthieu Durchon 59m

Irish Hockey Association media release

Ireland A 1 - 4 Germany U21

Ireland A girls completed their third and final match against the Germans today finishing 4-1.

Although legs appeared to be tired the girls put in a good performance despite the scoreline. Anna O'Flanagan was on hand once again for Ireland to equalise early in the second half after the German's went one nil ahead in the first half.

The girls will travel home today after what was a successful series.

Irish Hockey Association media release

Right blend of balance and experience

S. Thyagarajan

CHENNAI: When scanned against the recent successes, any attempt at a major ruffle in the team for the Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament faced the risk of being viewed as imprudent. A seasoned and well-balanced 18-member outfit, under the leadership of the gangling Sandeep Singh, is framed for the challenge.

Having said this, it must be acknowledged that the efficacy of the victories accomplished, both at home and abroad in the last few months, must reflect in the showing at Ipoh from April 5.

Conceivably, the composition of teams in the fray for this year’s tournament is weak. No European outfit is in contention, nor is there the presence of the usually formidable Australia. A trophy triumph alone will come as a bold relief, and mirror a modicum of hope before next year’s Commonwealth and World Cup campaigns.

Significant wins

While it is difficult to share the optimism of the chief coach, Harendra Singh, to the effect that India will be among the top six by next year, the fact that the team claimed some significant victories cannot be cast aside.

The faith reposed in experience and balance in all segments is heartening, notwithstanding the persistent frailties in the deep defence at crucial moments and the percentage of conversion in penalty corners.

Goal-keepers Baljit Singh and Adrian D’Souza have acquired a great deal of experience now. The former in particular has been on the improving mode in every competition. The deep defence, manned by the mature Dilip Tirkey, needs to be tight all through the encounter. Sandeep Singh, elevated to the role of a skipper sweeping aside the previous captains Dilip Tirkey, Prabhodh Tirkey and Ignace Tirkey, has a heavy responsibility cast on him to maintain the visible tempo.

So far, Sandeep has been in the success zone, hitting penalty corners at crucial moments. There is however a filament of criticism from the likes of Nandy Singh, who, logically, questions the wisdom of Sandeep taking the lion’s share in penalty corners without noticeable variations.

Variations hold the key

The veteran Olympian lists this as the cause for India’s failure in the four-nation tournament at Chandigarh. It goes without saying that variation is the key. A better use of Raghunath along with Tirkey and Arjun Halappa can be more profitable.

Admittedly, the strength of this 18-member squad lies in the mid-field, where everyone is skilful and experienced. Gurbaj, Ignace, Vikram and Prabodh are an eye-catching line-up with the competence and craft of Halappa adding to the power.

Equally strong is the frontline, where Prabhjot Singh and Shivendra continue to be the dominating force with support from Tushar Khandekar and Sunil. The unpredictable Bharat Chikara is an additional weapon in the armoury.

While it is safe to distance from overt criticism of the selection by the panel headed by a veteran in the stature of Ajitpal Singh now, the post tournament reaction will certainly be based on the result at Ipoh.

India has never had it carved out so well for etching the name again on the trophy it won last in 1995. Now the team enters the fray as the runner-up to Argentina.

The team: Sandeep Singh (captain), Baljit Singh, Adrian D’Souza, Dilip Tirkey, V. Raghunath, Gurbaj Singh, Vikram Pillay, Prabhjot Singh, Sardara Singh, Ignesh Tirkey, Prabodh Tirkey, Arjun Halappa, Tushar Khandekar, Shivendra Singh, S.B. Sunil,, Ajitesh Rai, Bharat Chikara and Gurvinder Singh Chandi.

Chief coach: Harendra Singh, Assistant coaches: Ramandeep Singh and Romeo James. Manager: Dhanraj Pillay.

The Hindu

Azlan Shah Cup Fixture

s2h

The Fixtures of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup (5-12th April) are as under :

05 April : India v Egypt
Pakistan v Malaysia

06 April : New Zealand v Pakistan
Malaysia v Egypt

07 April : Rest

08 April : New Zealand v Egypt
India v Malaysia

09 April : India v New Zealand
Pakistan v Egypt

10 April : Rest
11 April : India v Pakistan
Malaysia v New Zealand

12 April : 3-4 Placing
Final

Stick2Hockey.com

Azlan team announced; Dhanraj Pillay manager

K. Arumugam

Indian team for the Azlan Shah Cup to be played at Ipoh, Malaysia, has been announced. One of the National Selectors, Dhanraj Pillay, is designated as Manager.

Pillay is goldmedallist of the Azlan Shah Cup, he last played in the competition in 2004, where he led the side as well. The team

Goalkeepers
Baljit Singh (IOC)
Adrian D'Souza (Air India)

Full Backs
Sandeep Singh (Capt) (Air India)
Dilip Tirkey (Air India
V.R.Raghunath (IOC)

Midfielders
Gurbaj Singh (Air India)
Sardar Singh (Haryana)
Prabodh Tirkey (Air India)
Vikram Pillay (Air India)
Ignace Tirkey (Services)
Ajitesh Roy (PNB)

Forwards
Tushar Khandker (BPCL)
Prabhjot Singh (IOC)
S.V.Sunil (Services)
Bharat Chhikara (IOC)
Gurvinder Singh Chandi (PSB)
Shivendra Singh (Air India)
Arjun Halappa (Air India)

Standbyes
Bharat Chetri
V.S.Vinaya
Belsajar Horo
Mandeep Antil
Hari Prasad Birender Lakra
Sarwanjit Singh

Officials
Harendra Singh Coach Incharge
Romeo James Coach
Ramandeep Singh Coach
Shrikant Iyengar Physiotherapist
Pradip Dutta Trainer
A.Prasanna Video Analyser
Dhanraj Pillay Manager

Stick2Hockey.com

Selvaraju boost for national team at Azlan Shah, Asia Cups

By Ajitpal Singh

S. SELVARAJU is back in training after an injury scare and his return will be a plus point for the national team in the Azlan Shah Cup on April 6-12 and the Asia Cup on May 9-16.

Selvaraju suffered a right knee and hamstring injury during training last month. The 24-year-old was subsequently left out from the tour of South Korea, early this month.

National coach Tai Beng Hai said Selvaraju is an important entity and his presence will boost the team's chances in both tournaments.

"Selvaraju was in rehab and he only started light training when the national team were on tour. He is doing fine in training and will likely be in the Azlan Shah Cup squad," said Beng Hai.

Meanwhile, Beng Hai feels home ground advantage in the Asia Cup will spur his players further in doing their best.

The champions in the Asia Cup, to be held in Kuantan, will gain automatic qualification to the 2010 World Cup in New Delhi.

"There are pros and cons when playing at home. Of course, it will spur the players but it could also be added pressure.

"If the players do their best and play according to instructions, the home ground advantage will benefit them."

He also said both the Azlan Shah and Asia Cup will be equally important in terms of achieving different goals.

"According to my training programme, the players should be 80 per cent focused and ready for the Azlan Shah and in peak condition for the Asia Cup.

"It is also important that they do reasonably well in the Azlan Shah Cup to gain confidence."

In Korea, Beng Hai tried out some players in different positions.

"Overall the players did well in their new positions. Those who can adapt to different positions will hold an advantage in the team."

Malaysia won three out of their seven matches against university and clubs teams in Korea.

New Straits Times

Shahzrul and Shahzril seek to become first twins in national team

By AFTAR SINGH

KUALA LUMPUR: The Nazli twins, Shahzrul Imran and Shahzril Irwan, had a childhood dream to play for the national hockey team.

And with persistence and determination, the Form Four students of Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS) have gone on track to achieve their ambition. Both of them have earned call-ups to join the national Under-16 training squad.

They had in the recent national Under-16 tournament in Seremban helped Perak to finish as the runners-up and forward Shahzril bagged five goals.

The twins, who will turn 16 on Aug 27, also feature for BJSS in Division Two (Under-19) of the Malaysia Hockey League (MHL).

Defender Shahzrul said that they wanted to become the first twin brother to don national colours.

“There have been brothers playing for the national team but never twins. We hope to be the first,’’ he said.

Shahzrul added that they were happy that all their hard work in training paid off with a call-up to train with the national Under-16 squad.

“We hope to feature for Malaysia in the 2013 Junior World Cup,’’ he said.

The Mohans, Jiwa and Jivan, and the Misrons, Azlan and Azli, were among the brother to have played for the national team.

Shahzrul added that there were many players (36) in the training squad and they would have to work much harder to win places in the team for a four-nation junior tournament in Germany and also the Under-16 Asia Cup in Dhaka in October.

Said Shahzril: “My brother and I took up hockey when we were in primary school and we have are playing for BJSS for the third consecutive time in the junior league. We bagged the double last year and we hope to retain both the titles this year.”

BJSS, who have the maximum 15 points from five matches, will play against Setapak High School tomorrow and they will take on MSN Malacca on Sunday.

BJSS coach S. Prakash said that both Shahzrul and Shahzril were dedicated and hard working players.

“They have good leadership qualities too and they always give their best in tournaments,’’ he said.

The Star of Malaysia

Olak coach wants commitment from charges to hit top four target

KUALA LUMPUR: Former champions Old La Sallians Association of Klang (Olak) want full commitment from their players to fight for a top four finish in Division Two (Under-19) of the Malaysia Hockey League (MHL).

Olak assistant team manager Joseph De Silva said that they had the material to achieve the target.

“We don’t have star players in our ranks and we rely on good teamwork to win matches,” he said.

“We have played four matches and the only setback was in the match against leaders BPSS (Bandar Penawar Sports School) two weeks ago. We were leading 2-1 but lost the match because a lapse in concentration.”

Olak are in eighth spot in the 12-team league with seven points from two wins, a draw and a defeat.

Competition in the league is resuming after a break for the national Under-16 tournament in Seremban and Olak will be up against Mas Kijang at the Pandamaran Stadium in Klang tomorrow. On Sunday, they take on Tenaga Nasional at the Kuala Lumpur Hockey Stadium.

Joseph added that the two-week break served the team well to further work on their game.

“The players look fresh and I want full commitment from them to collect maximum points from the next two matches,” said Joseph.

“We have not seen Mas Kijang in action but hopefully we can take full advantage of playing at home to get the better of them.”

The Star of Malaysia

New Hockey Director appointed

Hockey New Zealand has restructured its operations to best reflect the future needs of the sport of hockey and its administration.

Hockey NZ Chairman Graham Child said that a strategic review had been undertaken in recent months, which focused on the present and future needs of the sport in New Zealand. This included an independent High Performance Hockey Review, which was commissioned in conjunction with SPARC prior to the Olympic Games last August.

“The High Performance Hockey Review identified that development of hockey in New Zealand required greater emphasis on the management of people, programmes and activities associated with the playing, and coaching and development of the game. This extends from grass roots level through to success on the international stage.”

“As a result, a new senior position of Hockey Director has been established. Reporting to the Chief Executive, the role will oversee all aspects of the game in New Zealand, for players, coaches and umpires.”

The selection process was highly contested with strong local and international interest, and the selection panel included independent representation appointed by SPARC.

Mr Child said Hockey New Zealand was delighted to announce the appointment of incumbent Chief Executive Ramesh Patel as the first Hockey Director.

After 20 successful years at the helm of Hockey New Zealand, Ramesh has expressed his desire to take a new career direction. With his passion for hockey undiminished, we were thrilled that he put his name forward to lead this critical area of developing and implementing the new frameworks and pathways for players, coaches and umpires.”

Ramesh Patel was equally excited about the new role: “After the position was advertised I looked at the role and felt this was the career direction for me. I have always been passionate about the hockey side and over the last five years my position has not allowed me to be as close as I had been in the early years. As the Hockey Director it gives me an opportunity to continue contributing to the sport I love.”

The search for a new Chief Executive is now underway. Mr Child said the creation of the Hockey Director role had also enabled the board to reshape the role of the Chief Executive to be primarily commercially focused.

Mr Child said that Mr Patel would leave his role as CEO having made Hockey NZ a stronger and more effective national sport organisation. “It’s excellent for hockey that someone with Ramesh’s knowledge and ability will continue to work with the sport in a key leadership role.”

Mr Patel will commence his new role on 30 March 2009 and the Chairman will oversee the CEO’s role until a permanent appointment is made.

Hockey New Zealand Media release

Sports Ministry denies Olympians’ allegations

By Imran Ali Teepu

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Sports Ministry on Wednesday denied the ‘allegations’ levelled by some former Olympians that a late replacement of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) secretary caused the national team’s debacle at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Pakistan finished eighth among the 12 nations in the Games. ‘It is wrong to say that the government’s decision to change the top management of the federation resulted in poor performance of the national squad during the Beijing Olympics,’ a top federal government official told Dawn.

’The government is all set to defend its position and a top sports ministry official is likely to appear before the committee to clear its position,’ said the official.

The Federal Sports Ministry had appointed Asif Bajwa as PHF secretary in place of Khalid Mahmood just three months before the Olympic Games in Beijing and a number of Olympians cited this as the main reason for the team’s debacle while a facing probe committee on Tuesday.

The three-member probe committee, investigating the debacle, comprises Rana Farooq Saeed as chairman with Olympians Waheed Khan and Shahbaz Senior as members.

‘The recommendations of the probe committee will be sent to Prime Minister Yousuf Reza Gilani, also the Patron of the hockey federation, while those responsible for the poor show will be blacklisted.’

The government, he said, would disclose the findings of the report so that the general public could also learn about the factors which resulted in such a dismal performance at the Games.

Former Olympian Tauqir Dar on Wednesday expressed his disappointment over the unnecessary criticism of Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) by various former Olympians.

In a written statement, Tauqir, son of former Olympian Munir Dar, said that the game needs support from former Olympians at this time and not criticism and all the former and current players should join hands to promote hockey.

Commenting on the recent criticism of current PHF officials by former Olympian Islahuddin, Tauqir said though he (Islah) was a great player himself, he had been attached with the PHF in one way or other since 1983 to 2007 was also equally responsible for the decline of the game.

Tauqir further said that Islah had also been a member of the FIH Rules Board for the last 17 years during which the off-side rule was abolished that had severely damaged Asian hockey.

‘I would like to ask Islah that while as a player he made great contributions to national hockey, but what has been his performance after the retirement as coach or chief selector and how many players he groomed in the national team,’ asked Tauqir.

He added that if all the former players gave just 20 per cent of their precious time to hockey for practical work on the field, the game’s past glory could be revived.

Dawn

Debe, SEPoS reach schools hockey finals

Garfield London

DEBE High School and South-East Port of Spain Secondary School (SEPoS) have qualified for the Under-20 boys and girls finals of the Secondary Schools Hockey League (SSHL) on the backs of hard-fought wins at the National Hockey Centre (NHC) in Tacarigua, recently.

Debe, who emerged as the South-East champions, stormed into the national finals by defeating North West Zone winners St Mary's College in sudden-death penalty strokes in the first semi-final match-up at the NHC last Friday afternoon.

Both Debe and CIC entered the semis with a 100 per cent record coming out of their respective zones. The recent clash was a repeat of the opening day fixture, when the southerners beat the northerners in sudden-death penalty strokes after they were deadlocked at full time.

And in their second meeting, the first half of the 50-minute encounter ended goalless. On the resumption however, both teams showed more urgency in their play.

But it was St Mary's who eventually took the lead in the 36th minute through a well-placed field goal by Matthew Lee, who beat an advancing Debe custodian Gerald Joseph.

Two minutes later, Debe's diminutive striker Joshua Wyatt put them back on level terms when he collected the ball at the top of the 'D', before slotting it past St Mary's goalkeeper Drew Ramsingh, who made little effort to prevent the goal, having thought the shot was taken outside the 'D.'

Umpires J. Seenath and L. Inglesbirth thought otherwise. The close contest remained at 1-1 following full-time.

In the shootout, St Mary's held the advantage by scoring early through Justin Clarke and Kahlil Ragbir, while Debe missed their first three strokes.

Strikers Kevin Ramdial, Shakeil Joseph and goalkeeper Joseph then netted to ensure the scoreline remained 2-2 on penalties. But in sudden-death, Matthew Lee of St Mary's could not reply to the effort of Debe's Ottis O'Connor.

St Mary's College now will play for third place against the winners of the second semi-final between Bishop's High School (victors of the Tobago Zone) and Trinity College East (runners-up in the South-East Zone). Debe will play the successful school in the final on April 3.

In the Girls competition, South-East Port of Spain Secondary School (SEPoS) qualified for the final by defeating Bishop Anstey High School East (BAHSE) 6-0 in the semi-final.

Seasoned campaigners SEPoS took advantage of an inexperienced BAHSE outfit, especially in the goalkeeping department, to score three goals on either side of half time.

L. Smith and R. Bernard registered braces for SEPOS, while there was a goal each for R. Carter and K. John-Baptiste. The Port of Spain-based school reached the semis with a slim 1-0 triumph over Providence Girls' College at the St James Barracks last week to win the North-West division.

BAHSE gave a good account of themselves to capture the South-East Zone, when they defeated a hard-running Valencia High School 5-2.

BAHSE will now battle the winners of the outing between Bishop's High School-Tobago Zone winners-and Providence Girls' College-runners-up in the North West Zone-for the third spot.

The Trinidad & Tobago Express