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All the news for Wednesday 9 January 2019

Hockey in 2018: At a glance

B.G.Joshi (Sehore-Bhopal, India)


Red Lions (Belgium-Men)) won the maiden Gold Medal in elite tourney (courtesy FIH)

Record 50 countries were on podium in 32 tournaments (includes annual Azlan Shah Cup) played in 2018. FIH have 137 member countries, Hockey Series Open permits all affiliated nations to compete for berth in Olympics/World Cup. Summary of medalists are:

Fieldhockey.com

FIH launches “FIH.live”, a global broadcast platform for hockey



Lausanne, Switzerland – On 10 January, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) will launch “FIH.live”, a global broadcast platform for hockey which will enable everyone to generate and share hockey video content from anywhere in the world. It will also give access to the FIH competitions live.

This platform will help FIH to engage more with the global hockey community, hockey fans and anyone who hasn’t had the chance to discover the sport yet. Furthermore, “FIH.live” will connect fans, players, players’ families, friends, coaches and officials. It will be provided to all National Associations for all their own competitions and matches.

Users will have the opportunity to access content, share content on social media and follow their favourite entities - including associations, domestic competitions, clubs, individual teams and players. They will enjoy a fully interactive experience, including scrolling the interactive match timeline, watching specific match actions, reviewing statistics and chatting during the live match.

Applying an “athlete first” concept, the platform will give players the chance to create their own digital hockey profile and control their own content.

In 2019, all FIH competitions will be available live on “FIH.live” in every market where a broadcaster will not be showing the match. This includes the inaugural FIH Pro League, which will kick-off on 19 January, the FIH Series Finals and the Olympic qualifiers.

The future of “FIH.live” will integrate the most updated technology as it evolves. It will be driven by Artificial Intelligence, machine learning and data. Automatic filming and automatic video tagging have already been introduced. The content generated will enable to gather key data, currently missing, which shall help the development of the game.

To create and launch “FIH.live”, FIH has engaged on a cooperation with mycujoo, an innovative company empowering federations, leagues and clubs to easily livestream their competitions and matches.

FIH CEO Thierry Weil said: “FIH.live is a great opportunity for the global hockey community to engage with current fans as well as with people who are yet to become fans. It will also boost the production of user generated content and bring hockey games live to many more fans in a simple way. I’m really happy that we will benefit from mycujoo’s expertise and creativity to help us achieving these goals.”

Pedro Presa, CEO and founder of mycujoo, stated: "Hockey is a global sport and represents a massive community. With FIH.live, FIH and mycujoo will harness the power of the sport, the power of these communities to bring more content and value to hockey players and fans worldwide. And we will do it in a groundbreaking joint venture. We are delighted to have found a trusting partner with a genuine vision and appetite for innovation."

FIH site

Fund crunch hits Pak hockey yet again, team mulls withdrawing from Olympic qualifier


The Pakistan team almost missed the 2018 hockey World Cup in India last December. File photo

Financial woes continued to trouble Pakistan hockey with the sport’s national body now considering withdrawing from the FIH Pro Hockey League, a qualifying event for the 2020 Olympics.

The Pakistan team, which almost missed the 2018 hockey World Cup in India last December due to lack of funds, is scheduled to play its first phase matches of Pro Hockey League next month, starting with the game against Argentina in Buenos Aires on February 2.

The team will have to travel to Australia and New Zealand to play the matches there in the later part of next month.

For the second leg matches, the Pakistan team will have to travel to Europe.

An official source told PTI that PHF was seriously considering withdrawing from the Pro-League because of the fund crunch and this could lead to a two-year suspension of Pakistan from international competitions.

“The PHF has set up a training camp in Lahore for the matches against Argentina, Australia and New Zealand. 45 players have been invited but until now no arrangements have been made to cover the expenses of the tours,” the official source said.

He said at least 25 million rupees will be required to send the team to Buenos Aires and then to Australia and New Zealand for six matches while the entire 16 matches of the Pro League Hockey (by including the Europe leg) would cost around 70 million rupees.

“The government is not responding to the PHF pleas for funds as was the case when the squad was going to the World Cup in India which was managed through sponsors and some private donations,” he said.

Pakistan was earlier on the verge of pulling out of the World Cup held in Bhubaneswar in December due to lack of funds but was ultimately saved by a Pakistan Super League franchise owner-businessman who signed a sponsorship deal at the last minute.

A camp attendee in Lahore told PTI that the facilities there were in shambles. He said to cut down costs in the extremely cold weather, the PHF had converted changing halls into rooms and around 12 to 14 players were staying in one hall.

“It is a sorry situation for hockey and most of the players are now considering just returning to their homes as there appears little chance of them getting any daily allowances as well,” he said.

Shahbaz Ahmed has resigned as PHF secretary after the World Cup debacle, as did the team’s manager and chief coach. But, PHF president Brigadier (retd.) Khalid Khokar has stubbornly refused to resign despite pressure on him to do so.

“No one knows what Khokar is thinking but apparently he has got a message from the government quarters to resign as they want to appoint a serving top military official as PHF president and bring in a new team to manage hockey affairs,” a reliable source said.

Khokar, in the meantime, has appointed Ayaz Mahmood as a caretaker associate secretary and made a former international Saeed Khan as head coach with Danish Kaleem and Rehan Butt to assist him.

The Tribune

U21 Squad Announced For Warm Weather Training



The following 26 Players have been selected to attend a warm weather training camp in Alicante University, Spain from Wednesday 9th January to Sunday 13th January

Match Schedule (local times):

The team will play three matches against Great Britain U23s

    Thursday 10 January         Match 1 vs GB U23s          16:00
    Friday 11 January               Match 2 vs GB U23s          16:00
    Sunday 12 January             Match 3 vs GB U23s          09:00

David Passmore (Head Coach) commented “After four weeks of hard physical training the squad selected will undertake a hard five days training and match play against an older side who recently competed together in China.  We have chosen to rest a few players and with other U21 aged players in Chile this presents players an opportunity to stake a place for the Europeans in Valencia in July.  I have been really impressed with the commitment of the players over the past month and look forward to testing ourselves against GB.”

Irish Hockey Association media release

Rot-Weiss snatch stunning late win over Uhlenhorst to move top in the west


©: Frank Uijlenbroek / World Sport Pics

Rot-Weiss Koln moved to the top of the western section of the German indoor league following an outstanding closing six minutes, coming back to beat Uhlenhorst Mulheim 8-7.

A Malte Hellwig hat trick had Mulheim 5-4 ahead early in the second half – turning around a 4-3 half-time deficit – and further efforts from Till Brock and Niklas Bossehoff extended the advantage out to 7-5.

But Rot-Weiss summoned an amazing closing few minutes with Moritz Trompertz (pictured), Max Siegburg and Jan Fleckhaus all scored to win the tie.

It sees them move into first place in their group with three games to go, jumping above Dusseldorf and Mulheim.

"For us, the game can be divided into three sections: on the one hand in a very good first half with a deserved break,” coach André Henning said afterwards.

“We have controlled the game well over long phases against a deep five-dice line-up. The conceded goals were due to individual mistakes that we still make with our young team.

“Then, in the first 15, 20 minutes of the second half, we were overrun a few times and Mülheim showed their class in one-on-ones. The third section, when we took out the goalkeeper with seven minutes to go, worked really well!”

So far, the only group to be settled is the south where Munich SC and TSV Mannheim both are through to the quarter-finals with two games remaining. They are eight and seven points clear of Mannheimer HC with two games remaining.

The north is set for a fascinating final week of the regular season. Club an der Alster lead the way on 21 points but with a game extra played to UHC Hamburg (19) and Hamburger Polo Club (18) who meet on Wednesday night.

Alster then play Polo on Saturday and then UHC on Sunday, meaning there are lots of twists and turns to be played out over the weekend.

In the East, Berliner HC, Blau-Weiss Berlin and Zehlendorf Wasps are the three sides in the mix for the playoff places with three games to go for each of them.

Euro Hockey League media release

UNIKL sign up Kampong and Amsterdam stars for Malaysian league



A number of heavy-hitters from SV Kampong and AH&BC Amsterdam have linked up with University of Kuala Lumpur for the Malaysian Hockey League for the competition which gets underway on January 11.

The reigning champions have the services of two-time world goalkeeper of the year David Harte and his Kampong club mates Robbert Kemperman and Martijn Havenga along with Amsterdam’s Valentin Verga, adding to a side that also features Australian pair Tim Deavin and Kieran Govers.

They join star Malaysian internationals like Muhammad Razie Abdul Rahim and Mohamad Sukri Abdul Mutalib and coach Arul Selvaraj believes the team is shaping up well.

“Razie and Sukri have played with Tim [Deavin] before and they know each other well. The foreign players are also aware of Razie’s abilities as a drag flicker.”

They will be the side to beat in the competition and Arul says that managing that expectation will be crucial to their development in the league.

“We go in with more confidence. But there is a fine line between confidence and arrogance. This is what I must remind my players.”

Verga and Kemperman’s decision to link up with the MHL means they will not play their part in the opening phases of the FIH Pro League with the Netherlands training with a very youthful panel in the coming weeks.

Euro Hockey League media release

Joel joins Nur Insafi in the MHL in order to get more playing time



PETALING JAYA: International hockey player Joel van Huizen (pic) has decided to join Nur Insafi to gain more playing time.

The 26-year-old midfielder was dropped from the UniKL squad after playing for them last season, and wants to continue playing in the Malaysian Hockey League (MHL) with Nur Insafi.

Calling it a new challenge, Van Huizen is looking to improve his game and helping his new team finished in the top four in the league.

“To me, this is a challenge for the new year. Looking at other squads, they look good on paper. We are going to take each game at a time.

“Right now, I aim to play well in every game,” said Van Huizen.

When asked what his expectations for the season are, the national player, who recently played in the World Cup said he wants to help the team do well in the league.

“It would be great if I can score in every game, but to me, numbers don’t really matter.

“Primarily, the team is important, and I just want to help Nur Insafi do well in the league.

“I was intrigued by their target of finishing in the top four and I would do my best to help them achieve the target,” he said.

The club from Penang have also recruited former Kuala Lumpur striker Syamim Mohd Yusof and experienced players like Ismail Abu, Baljit Singh, Harmeet Singh and Jiwa Mohan to beef up the team.

The Star of Malaysia

Coach Saiful wants Tenaga players to work on their finishing

By T. Avineshwaran

PETALING JAYA: There is work to be done within Tenaga Nasional, winners of the Tan Sri P. Alagendra Cup.

Those were the words of coach Nor Saiful Zaini who has urged his charges to work on their chemistry and finishing if they want to do well in the league.

Even though the team won the Cup by beating Terengganu 2-1 in a cagey final, the former national player said Tenaga need to work on their finishing, and the team have yet to peak.

“Defensively, we are looking good but finishing-wise leaves much to be desired. In the final, we played in patches. Some plays we were good, some did not click at all.

“Even though we are fielding only local players anything can happen in hockey. For me, the players should give their 100% every minute. Give their all until the last minute.

“That’s the commitment I want from the players,” said Nor Saiful.

He added that the team also need to work on their passing and teamwork to ensure they can remain as the title challengers in the league.

“In the final, some passes were not accurate enough. We will work on correcting that and also ensure that we play as a team. We aim to win the league and the overall title.”

The coach said that he wants full points from their first two league matches against UITM and Nur Insafi.

“All the players have yet to click because some just reported for training and it was evident during the Tan Sri P. Alagendra Cup. Once they play often enough, they will get their sharpness. The more they play, they better they become. We have forwards who can deliver and they need match sharpness to convert their chances into goals.”

Nor Saiful also lauded the influence of goalkeeper S. Kumar, who played a significant role in the final by making several crucial saves and even stopping Terengganu Jang Jong-hyun’s high flick in that game.

“He was in top form and made several great saves. That is why he is still the best in Malaysia. We hope he can maintain this performance.

“Because of his age, we have to monitor his fitness and talk with him to ensure that he is at his best throughout the tournament. He might be rested in some matches to make sure that he can maintain his form.”

The Star of Malaysia

Malaysian Tigress could head to Europe

By Naqib Nor Said

KUALA LUMPUR: The national women’s hockey squad continue to get equal treatment, as in their preparations to face the qualifying campaign for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, they could end up going to Europe for some much needed exposure, similar to that of the national men’s squad.

However, Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) president, Datuk Seri Subahan Kamal said that the matter is still in the final stage of discussion with the National Sports Council (NSC) and the verdict will only be known in two weeks time.

"For the women’s squad, they will face the Hockey Series Final campaign in Dublin, Ireland come June where MHC have set a target of qualifying for the second round.

"So to ensure that such a target is achieved, we have already proposed to NSC to send the squad for a playing tour of Europe before the championship begins.

"However, NSC will need to study the proposal in detail first, and God willing a decision will be made in two weeks time,” he said.

Subahan said as much when met after the working committee meeting between NSC and MHC at Bukit Jalil earlier today (Tuesday).

Such a move is to make full use of the remaining three months of training that the national women’s squad have, and the national players will be reporting back only in March once the 2019 Malaysian women’s hockey league ends.

It is understood that Italy could be the destination of choice for the national women’s squad before they head off to Dublin.

Apart from planning for preparations and a possible playing tour of Europe, K. Dharmaraj and his charges will also be on the receiving end of welcome exposure playing in the Four Nations Invitational Championship which will be held right here in Kuala Lumpur involving India, China and Japan.

Meanwhile, Subahan confirmed that MHC have instructed national men’s players to report in three times a week for national training camp throughout the duration of the 2019 Malaysia Hockey League.

“We have already presented our plans to NSC for the players to continue with national training even though they are tied with their commitments with their respective clubs.

"National training sessions will be overseen by head coach Roelant Oltmans and at the same time we will also assess who are the other players that can be roped in for the national squad,” said Subahan.

New Straits Times

Indoor Hockey back on the list

By Naqib Nor Said

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysia Hockey Confederation (MHC) will return to focusing on the development of indoor hockey in efforts to ensure that Malaysia is able to win two gold medals at the Manila Sea Games later this year.

Before this, the sport was not listed on the national sports calendar since the 2017 Kuala Lumpur Sea Games drew to a close as MHC were not prepared to focus on the development of indoor hockey.

However, MHC president, Datuk Seri Subahan Kamal earlier today (Tuesday) confirmed that the sport of indoor hockey is among the matters that were discussed during the working committtee meeting between the National Sports Council (NSC) and MHC.

"It was among the matters discussed and we will be fully focused on the development of indoor hockey.

"The NSC has already promised to help us in terms of planning and so on and so forth.

"We will work together with NSC for the upcoming Manila Sea Games. Even though field hockey will not be contested in Manila, we vow to bring back two gold medals from there,” he stressed.

However, Subahan said that they will decide in the very near future on the coaching line-up for both the national men’s and women’s indoor hockey squads.

"We will make a decision after the coaching committee meeting. It’s just that for now I can confirm that as many as 36 athletes will be take part in a national training camp which will be divided to 12 indoor hockey players and 24 field hockey players,” he explained.

It will be different from the women’s squad as it is understood that the national field hockey squad will involve 21 players, with twelve of them for the indoor hockey squad.

For the record, indoor hockey brought 1 gold and one bronze during the 2017 Kuala Lumpur Sea Games thanks to the men’s and women’s national squads.

New Straits Times

QPCC retains Ventures title

by NIGEL SIMON


Still champions….Members of Queen’s Park Cricket Club I men’s hockey team pose after beating Defence Force 6-4 to repeat as champions in the men’s Open Division of the 16th annual Ventures Invitational Indoor Hockey Tournament on Sunday night after trailing 4-1 at the half-time whistle. Photo: Courtesy: QPCC.

Jor­dan Reynos and Jer­azeno Bell scored sec­ond-half dou­bles to lead Queen’s Park Crick­et Club I to a come-from-be­hind 6-4 win to re­peat as cham­pi­ons over in the Men's Open Di­vi­sion of the 16th an­nu­al Ven­tures In­vi­ta­tion­al In­door Hock­ey Tour­na­ment on Sun­day night.

But while the Parkites tast­ed vic­to­ry for a sec­ond straight year in the di­vi­sion, new cham­pi­ons were de­clared in the women’s Open and vet­er­ans com­pe­ti­tion via, Ven­tures and Petro­Vets re­spec­tive­ly.

The men’s de­cider got off to a fran­tic start when the for­mer na­tion­al cap­tain, Nicholas Wren fired De­fence Force in­to a fourth-minute lead.

That last for five min­utes as Kadeem For­tune drew the Parkites lev­el in the ninth, on­ly for T&T in­ter­na­tion­al Mick­el Pierre to score a quick dou­ble, in the 11th and 12thminute to re­store the “Teteron Men” lead at 3-1.

Pierre then com­plet­ed a first-half hat-trick while he added an­oth­er in the 18th for a -4-1 half-time ad­van­tage to put his team on course for the ti­tle.

How­ev­er, the sec­ond half saw a com­plete turn-around as the Parkites found a dif­fer­ent gear and scored five goals with­out re­ply through Jor­dan Reynos (25th and 27th), Jer­azeno Bell (27th and 28th) and Evan Far­rell, in the 29th to snatch vic­to­ry from the jaws of de­feat.

When the com­pe­ti­tion re­sumed on Sun­day morn­ing with semi­fi­nal ac­tion, Queen’s Park out­gunned Paragon 5-3 thanks to a tre­ble from Far­rell and two by Bell while De­fence Force scored twice in the fi­nal minute to beat Su­per­no­va, 3-2.

In the Women’s Open Di­vi­sion fi­nal, host club, Ven­tures ral­lied from an ear­ly 2-0 deficit to earn a 2-2 full-time draw with Pink (Shandy Carib Mag­no­lias) be­fore ek­ing out a 2-1 sud­den-death penal­ty-stroke shoot-out win.

Kait­lyn Olton and Bri­an­na Govia net­ted in the sev­enth and eighth minute re­spec­tive­ly to give Pink a 2-0 ad­van­tage.

How­ev­er, Krizia Layne sliced the lead in half for Ven­tures in the 12th minute be­fore Arielle Williams banged home the equal­iz­er on the stroke of full-time to send the match to penal­ties.

The duo of Williams and Layne then con­vert­ed their penal­ties for Ven­tures while Govia was the on­ly one to score for Pink, in the loss.

Ear­li­er on at the same venue, Ven­tures made cer­tain a new cham­pi­on would be crowned in the women when they edged last year’s win­ners Paragon 2-1 in their semi­fi­nals, thanks to a dou­ble from Layne while Pink ham­mered Notre Dame 10-2 led by hat-tricks from Govia and Olton.

An­oth­er ex-T&T in­ter­na­tion­al, Dwain Quan Chan de­nied Queen’s Park from re­peat­ing as Vet­er­ans cham­pi­ons af­ter he scored a beaver-trick in Petro­Vets 7-5 tri­umph.

Quan Chan got his goals in the sixth, 23rd, 26th, and 27th min­utes while Solomon Ec­cles (1st & 7th) and An­tho­ny Mar­cano (11th), present and past T&T play­ers re­spec­tive­ly

For run­ners-up QPCC, Bell (11th & 13th) and Rob Wy­att 21st & 29th) scored two each, and Reiza Ho­sein, the oth­er in the 24th.

Sun­day’s re­sults

Semi­fi­nals (Men’s Open)

QPCC I 5 (Evan Far­rell 16th, 18th, 24th, Jer­aeno Bell 3rd, 20th) vs Paragon 3 (Jabari Perez 15th, Akim Tou­s­saint 27th, Chris­t­ian John 30th)

De­fence Force 3 (Mar­cus James 14th, Shane Leg­erton 30th, Nicholas Wren 30th) vs Su­per­no­va 2 (Shome­re Gar­nett 7th, War­ren Williams 21st)

Women’s Open

Ven­tures 2 (Krizia Layne 9th, 27th) vs Paragon 1 (Kristin Thomp­son 21st)

Pink (Shandy Carib Mag­no­lias) 10 (Bri­an­na Govia 3rd, 13th, 25th, Kait­lyn Olton 4th, 28th, 29th, Brit­tney Hingh 4th, Saman­tha Olton 17th, 30th, Chelsea Day 29th) vs Notre Dame 2 (Shantel Gar­cia 5th, Tahi­rah Wynne 19th)

Vet­er­ans

QPCC 7 (Richard Thomas 10th, 25th, Edrich Fran­cois 12th, Reiza Ho­sein 22nd, 26th, Ryan Cowie 28th, Rob Wy­att 30th) vs De­fence Force 2 (Kirth Davis 7th, Kesh­en John­son 27th)

Petro­Vets 3 (Danielle Thomp­son 9th, Dwain Quan Chan 16th, Solomon Ec­cles 18th) vs Po­lice 2 (Roger Daniel 12th, Vic­tor Fred­er­icks 21st)

Third Place play­offs

Vet­er­ans

Po­lice 2 (Fer­nan­do Beat­rice 11th, Roger Daniel 24th) vs De­fence Force 1 (Nicholas Wren 20th)

Women’s Open

Paragon 2 (Nao­mi Samp­son 7th, Fe­li­cia King 11th) vs Notre Dame 1 (Tonya-Marie James 14th)

Men’s Open

Paragon 5 (Akim Tou­s­saint 11th, 14th, 15th, 24th, Kelon Sker­rit 28th) vs Su­per­no­va 3 (Shome­re Gar­rett 10th, Me­shach Sargeant 24th, Ka­reem Mc Ken­zie 26th)

Fi­nals

Vet­er­ans

Petro­Vets 7 (Solomon Ec­cles 1st, 7th, Dwain Quan Chan 6th, 23rd, 26th, 27th, An­tho­ny Mar­cano 11th) vs QPCC 5 (Jer­azeno Bell 11th, 13th, Rob Wy­att 21st, 29th, Reiza Ho­sein 24th)

Men’s Open

QPCC I 6 (Kadeem For­tune 9th, Jor­dan Reynos 25th, 27th, Jer­azeno Bell 27th, 28th, Evan Far­rell 29th) vs De­fence Force 4 (Nicholas Wren 4th, Mick­el Pierre 11th, 12th, 18th)

Women’s Open

Ven­tures 2 (Krizia Layne 12th, Arielle Williams 30th) vs Pink (Shandy Carib Mag­no­lias 2 (Kait­lyn Olton 7th, Bri­an­na Govia 8th) – Ven­tures won 2-1 in sud­den-death penal­ty-stroke shoot-out.

In­di­vid­ual Award win­ners

Most Goals

Men’s Open: Akim Tou­s­saint (Paragon) – 23 goals

Women’s Open: Krizia Layne (Ven­tures) – 12 goals

Play­er of the Tour­na­ment

Men’s Open: Dwain Quan Chan (De­fence Force)

Women’s Open: Kay­la Es­cayg (Ven­tures)

The Trinidad Guardian

PHF backed out of its promise to hold my benefit match: Zahid



LAHORE - Ailing former hockey Olympian Zahid Sharif has said that Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) backed out of its promise to organise his benefit match for extending financial assistance for his heart treatment.

“I am in worst physical condition as my heart is only working 17 percent and sadly I do not have resources to undertake costly treatment while the PHF has backed out of its earlier promise to stage my benefit match,” he told reporters here at the National Hockey Stadium on Tuesday.

He held former PHF secretary Shahbaz Ahmad Senior responsible for not fulfilling the promise of organizing his benefit match and said Shahbaz didn’t do anything except issuing him a letter of his benefit match. “I will be another example like former Pakistan captain Mansoor Khan, who died awaiting financial assistance from the PHF,” he said and added: “I have no source of income and it has become hard for me to meet both the ends as I am maintaining a family with children.”

A visibly pale and shattered from his ailment, Zahid deplored the irresponsible attitude of the present setup of the PHF especially its president, who is least bother about the welfare of the former stalwarts of the game. “I served Pakistan hockey with pride and was part of the country’s many victories at international level but unfortunately in the time of need, I have been left alone to fight with my ailment with no earning resource available to me,” said the former hockey Olympian in sheer pain with tearful eyes.

He said the present regime of the PHF wasted millions of rupees on the pretext of development of hockey and the result is disappointing as the team is struggling at international level and struck dismal performance in the World Cup in India and even failed to win its single match in the history of the Cup. “Here arises the question where the huge grant received from the government has been spent as the results speak that our national game is in shambles,” said Zahid.

He appealed the concerned quarters to take notice of his sickness and to issue him grant on immediate basis so that he could get timely treatment of his heart. “Many masters of the game died in miserable condition in recent years and the PHF, knowingly their deadly diseases, did nothing,” he added.

The Nation