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Friday May 15, 2009

Kelantan’s Border Regiment pull out, only 10 teams to vie for Div 1 crown

By AFTAR SINGH

KUALA LUMPUR: Border Regiment of Kelantan have made a last-minute withdrawal from the Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) Division One competition.

The Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) assistant secretary, R. Krishnan, said that the team, who made their debut in the league last year, gave no reason for pulling out of the senior league beginning today.

“We have already drawn up the fixtures and their late withdrawal caught us by surprise. Ten teams will now compete in Division One and the winners will be promoted to the Premier League beginning in October,” he said.

Previously, the senior league also had two divisions and they were named Divisions One and Two.

But this year, the MHF have renamed Division One as Premier Division and the league will feature the country’s top clubs — Ernst and Young, Sapura, Tenaga Nasional, Maybank, Nur Insafi and Royal Malay Regiment (RMR).

Division Two is now Division One and the teams in the fray are Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS), Bandar Penawar Sports School (BPSS), Universiti Malaysia Perlis (Unimap), UiTM, Ipoh City Council, Malacca City Council, Dolphins, Air Force, ATM Airod and ATM Juniors.

BJSS, the MHL Under-19 double champions, will open their campaign against BPSS at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil.

BJSS coach S. Prakash said that they were not setting any target in the senior league even though they would be featuring in the ranks for the fourth time.

“We have 13 boys who are under the age of 16 and we want to give them exposure for next year’s MHL Under-19 competition,” said Krishnan.

In the Under-19 league, BJSS defeated BPSS on penalties to lift the overall title.

MHL dIV 1 FIXTURES

Today: BJSS vs BPSS (National Hockey Stadium, Bukit Jalil, 3pm); Malacca City Council vs Dolphins (Malacca Hockey Stadium, 5pm); ATM Juniors vs Unimap (Tun Razak Stadium, KL, 5pm); ATM Airod vs Air Force (Tun Razak Stadium, KL, 7pm).

Sunday: BPSS vs Dolphins (Bandar Penawar Hockey Stadium, 5pm); ATM Airod vs Malacca City Council (Tun Razak Stadium, KL, 7pm); BJSS vs Unimap (National Hockey Stadium, Bukit Jalil, 3pm); UiTM vs Air Force (Pandamaran Stadium, 5pm).

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