News

Maybank open campaign against Sapura

2011-09-21 18:09:00

Former champions Maybank face the litmus test when they take on table toppers and favourites Sapura in the opening Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) Premier Division match at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil today.

Last season, the Tigers lost all their four matches to Sapura – two league and two in the knockout stage.

And coach Wallace Tan admitted that they would face another tough task against Sapura, who were overall runners-up last season.

“We struggled in the league last season and we have to work really hard to give our best against Sapura.

“We had a few weeks of training and hope to put up a much better performance this year,” said the former national coach.

Last year, the Tigers were stunned by unfancied Armed Forces and finished a disappointing sixth in the nine-team Premier Division.

They qualified for the quarter-finals only to lose to Sapura by a big margin.

There is good and bad news for the Tigers this season. They are happy that former national forward Suhaimi Ibrahim, who missed the MHL last season due to injury, will be back in action.

However, the bad news is that they will not have the services of former national defender and penalty corner specialist K. Gobinathan, who has retired.

Gobinathan is the assistant coach of Malaysia’s Project 2013 squad.

The Tigers will be led by national forward Hafifihafiz Hanafi and national trainee Shahrin Mohamed.

Wallace said that they would be playing eight matches and every match was important towards their bid to qualify for the knockout stage.

“I hope my players will be able to click well to put up a strong challenge in the league,” said Wallace, who will also be banking on Hairul Nizam Abdul Rani to deliver the goals from penalty corners.

Yayasan Negri Sembilan (YNS), meanwhile, are confident of getting the better of Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) in their Premier Division match today.

YNS coach K. Rajan said that UniKL were not as strong as last season.

“UniKL are an inexperienced side as they comprise mostly youngsters and they don’t have a playmaker to lead them. There is also a wide gap in defence and we hope to exploit that.

“However, we are not going to take them lightly and will be going all out to get our second win in the league,” said Rajan.

YNS came from a goal down to defeat Nur Insafi Penang 2-1 while UniKL were held to a 1-1 draw by UiTM on Sunday.

The Star