Friday, March 9, 2012

Malaysia start London journey

DUBLIN OLYMPIC QUALIFIER FIXTURES N MALAYSIAN TEAM LIST

FIXTURES --- March 10: Malaysia v Chile (8pm), Ireland v Russia (10.30pm), South Korea v Ukraine (1am).
March 12: Malaysia v Russia (8.30pm), Ukraine v Ireland (11pm), South Korea v Chile (1.30am).
March 13: Ukraine v Malaysia (9pm), Russia v Chile (11.30-m), Ireland v South Korea (2am).
March 15: Russia v Ukraine (9pm), Malaysia v South Korea (11.30pm), Chile v Ireland (2am).
March 17: South Korea v Russia (6pm), Chile v Ukraine (8.30pm), Ireland v Malaysia (11pm).
March 18: Final and placing matches.

MALAYSIA: Roslan Jamaluddin (gk), S. Kumar (gk), Izzat Rahim, Amin Rahim, Marhan Jalil, Fitri Saari, Izwan Firdaus, Madzli Ikmar, Faizal Saari, Shahrun Nabil, Shukri Mutalib, Azlan Misron, Nabil Fiqri, Razie Rahim (skipper), Hafifi Hafiz Hanafi, Baljit Singh, Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin, Azreen Rizal.

Beware of the minnows, warns Tengku Abdullah

By T.N. Alagesh

MALAYSIA must not underestimate the threat posed by lesser-known teams in the Olympic Qualifier which starts in Dublin, Ireland tomorrow.
Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah yesterday warned the national team coached by Tai Beng Hai that teams like Chile and Russia could cause an upset and ruin the country's dream of featuring in the London Olympics in July.
"The defeat in the final of the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou against Pakistan must serve as a lesson as the loss cost us an automatic spot in the Olympics.
"Now, we have to go through a qualifying round in Ireland.
"The players must be focused on earning the final ticket to the Olympics," he told reporters in Kuantan yesterday.
Tengku Abdullah said the national team were geared up for the Qualifier after preparing for months.
Malaysia, who last featured in the Sydney Olympics 12 years ago, open their campaign against Chile tomorrow, before playing Russia (Sunday), Ukraine (Tuesday), South Korea (Thursday) and Ireland (March 17).
The final and classification matches will be held on March 18.