KUALA LUMPUR: Tenaga Nasional have thrown in the towel in the Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) title race despite being in second spot in the six-team Premier Division.

Tenaga have 16 points, three fewer than double champions KL Hockey Club (KLHC), after eight matches.

Surrender: Tenaga striker Faizal Saari has conceded the Premier Division title to KLHC

With just two matches left, KLHC have also have a superior goal difference – 32.

KLHC have scored 43 goals and conceded 11 while Tenaga have netted 22 and let in 16.

Tenaga will face Sapura tomorrow before taking on KLHC on Sunday.

Tenaga forward Faizal Saari admitted that “even if we win both our matches against Sapura and KLHC, we still can’t win the league title”.

“KLHC will still retain the title as they should have no problems collecting full points against a struggling UniKL (Universiti Kuala Lumpur) in their match on Friday,” said Faizal.

KLHC, who are gunning for their third consecutive league title, outplayed UniKL 8-1 in the first round.

Tenaga gave themselves a chance of winning the league after beating KLHC 4-3 in the first round but they blew it when they dropped four points by drawing their last two matches against Nur Insafi-Perak (4-4) and UniKL (2-2).

“We will also face a tough time against Sapura, who will be going all out to beat us to stay in contention for the runners-up spot,” said the 21-year-old Faizal, who is currently the top scorer in the league with 15 goals.

Sapura, who finished second last year, are in third spot with 12 points.

Knowing that they have shot themselves in the foot with the two draws, Faizal said they will now focus on finishing as league runners-up.

“We finished third in the league last year, but this time we hope to go one better. I will try to score in the two remaining matches and bag my second top scorer award,” said Faizal, who is hoping to score more than the 19 he netted last year.

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