HOCKEY: BOLLYWOOD ACT FOR UniKL

FAVOURITES UniKL acted to a Bollywood movie script when they took a punch before beating a gritty Ipoh Juniors 3-2 in the curtain raiser of the MHF-NSC-Milo Junior Hockey League at the Azlan Shah Stadium yesterday.

PJCC’s Ibnu Fatta Illah (in black) goes past three BJSS defenders in their Division 1 match at the Ministry of Education pitch yesterday. — Picture by Osman Adnan

Virtually parading their Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) side, UniKL were shocked in the ninth minute when Rasyid Hazar scored off a penalty corner attempt..

However, the early setback was overcame with efforts from Zulhairi Hashim (19th, 31st) and Nor Aqmal Ghaffer (43rd). The other Ipoh goal was scored by Azrul Fazrin in the 62nd minute.

"We expected Ipoh to defend in the early stages, but they shocked my players by playing an attacking game and scoring the first goal instead.
"I salute their grit, and the match turned difficult after that as my players struggled to settle down, but the end result was in favour of us," said UniKL manager Amir Azhar.

Bukit Jalil Sports School, whose players also just completed the MHL fixtures, were a disappointing lot when they let in a goal, before edging Petaling Jaya City Council 2-1 at the Ministry of Education pitch.

PJCC took the lead through Syamil Zulkifli off a ninth minute penalty corner, but BJSS sealed the three points with goals from Faridzul Afiq (12th) and Haziq Samsul (20th).

"I am shocked with the level of play today (yesterday) as we missed many sitters and were on the receiving end for no reason.

"We had practised many set-pieces but my players just failed to execute them, so instead of winning comfortably, we started our campaign on a shaky note," said BJSS coach S. Prakash whose players will meet Ipoh Juniors tomorrow.

In Division Two, Old La Sallians Association of Klang (Olak-PKT) also took the lead via Hakim Azarha's field attempt in the 27th minute, but shared points on a 1-1 score when Luqman Hakim scored for Padang Midin in the 43rd minute.


Read more: Hockey: Bollywood act for UniKL http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/46hookee/Article/index_html#ixzz1HrNnSfPj

BANDAR PENAWAR, UniKL GRAB FULL POINTS IN OPENING MATCH

KUALA LUMPUR: Defending league champions Bandar Penawar SS-Thunderbolt began their Division One campaign in the Malaysia Junior Hockey League (MJHL) with a 4-0 win over Bukit Jalil SS Junior at the Taman Daya Stadium in Johor Baru yesterday.

Mohamed Fitri Saari opened the scoring in the 24th minute through a field attempt while Shahzril Irwan Nazli followed it up with another field goal in the 30th minute to give them a 2-0 first half lead.

In the second half Mohamed Shahril Saabah and Mohamed Dzahiruddin made sure of full points with goals in the 50th and 59th minutes respectively.

Last year’s overall champions Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) overcame a one-goal deficit to defeat Ipoh City Council Juniors 3-2 at the Sultan Azlan Shah to get off to a winning start as well.

Shortlived joy: MBPJ’s Ibnu Fata Illah scoring against BJSS during their MJHL match in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. BJSS however won the match 2-1. — By RICKY LAI / The Star


Ipoh CC took the lead in the ninth minute when Mohamed Rasyid Hazer scored from a penalty corner.

But 10 minutes later UniKL’s Mohamed Zulhairi Hashim netted from a penalty corner to draw level.

Zulhairi then added his scored goal in the 31st minute to give UniKL the lead with another penalty corner.

Mohamed Nor Akmal scored the third goal in the 43rd minute but that only served to see the Ipoh side staging a fightback.

Ipoh CC reduced the deficit in the 61st minute through Mohamed Azrul Fazrin from a field attempt but the champions held on to take full points.

Former double champions Bukit jalil Sports School (BJSS) were lucky to have got off to a winning start against Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) at the Education Ministry Turf here. They won 2-1.

It was the early goals that decided the match as both teams wilted under the hot conditions as the match that was played at 4.30pm.

MBPJ took the lead in the ninth minute with Ibnu Fata Illah scoring from a field attempt.

Three minutes later BJSS drew level with a Faridzul Mohamed goal. Then in the 20th minute Mohamed Haziq Shamsul scored the winning goal from another field attempt to seal the three points.

BJSS coach S. Prakash said after the match that they were slow off the blocks and failed to settle down properly.

“It is always the same with my team as they are slow starters. They did not perform to their true potential and in the second half the players were affected by the afternoon heat,” he said.

But Prakash pointed out that his players should have won comfortably as they have a good set of players.

“But it was important to get full points from the match. The players will need to buck up and yesterday there was too much of individual play as the players tried to do things on their own.

“Still we hope the good start will see them trying harder in the next match to take full points as well,” said Prakash.