KUALA LUMPUR: Defending champions Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS) continued with their cautious approach in Division One of the MHF-Milo-NSC Junior Hockey League (MJHL), beating Bandar Penawar SS Juniors 2-0 at the Bandar Penawar Hockey Stadium yesterday.

BJSS lead a group of three other teams in making a winning start to their league campaign. BPSS-Thunderbolt, Anderson and Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) were the other teams in the top division to record their second win.

BPSS-Thunderbolt were 4-1 winners over Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) while Anderson survived a late scare to score a last-minute goal for a 3-2 win over the national women’s team in Ipoh.

At the Kuala Terengganu Hockey Stadium, newcomers UniKL thrashed MSS Kelantan 7-1.

BJSS, in their win over BPSS Juniors, scored a penalty-corner goal through Kavin Kartik in the 35th minute and Mohamed Redzhwan Jaafar sealed the win with a field attempt in the 58th minute.

BJSS coach S. Prakash said that the main objective was to collect full points.

“BPSS Juniors put up a good fight and I am glad that our players were able to stand their ground,” he said.

“We had the better of the chances and also more penalty corners today. The scoring rate was not good but we were more concerned about gaining three points.

“We have some work to do and we will get it done as we move along. There are tougher matches to come.”

At the Tun Razak Stadium in KL, heavy rain in the second half did not dampen the spirit of the BPSS-Thunderbolt team.

Mohamed Firhan Ashari scored a brace in the 57th and 59th minutes. Earlier, the Saari brothers, Fitri and Faisal, were on target in the 12th and 40th minutes respectively. MBPJ’s solitary goal was scored by Mohamed Rashid Baharom in the 28th minute.

The national women’s team were just three minutes from earning a draw against Anderson.

The Ipoh side took the lead with two quick strikes by forward Mohamed Soffian Kamaruddin in the 31st and 32nd minutes.

But the girls fought back and Siti Noor Amarina got the first goal in the 51st minute.

Then Fazila Silin equalised in the 67th minute off a penalty corner.

And Jasdev Singh converted a penalty corner to give Anderson full points.

In Kuala Terengganu, the MSS Kelantan team led with a 19th minute goal by Kamarul Azwan Abdul Rahman.

But a minute later, UniKL were back on level terms with a goal by Mohamed Sabri Mohamed. The forward went on to claim a hat-trick with goals in the 26th and 52nd minutes.

The other scorers for the university side were Mohamed Syamin (28th), Mohamed Aminuddin Abu (32nd), Dedi Ariyadi Jumaidi (44th) and Manraj Singh (50th).

KUALA LUMPUR: Defending champions Bukit Jalil Sports School’s (BJSS) will not let their guard down although their second match in the MHF-Milo-NSC Junior Hockey League against Bandar Penawar SS Juniors (BPSS) should be a breeze.

BJSS coach S. Prakash said yesterday their opponents may be junior side but every match will count and they need to keep up their winning momentum.

“The BPSS Juniors have a quite a number of players from the national Under-16 squad and many of them have been in the side for the last three years.

“So we are going up against an experienced set of players and the match will be a tough one,” said Prakash.

He said the match with BPSS Juniors will be a good gauge of his team’s ability.

“For me this match will show where we stand in our title run and what to expect against the other title contenders. The problem with our first match is the many misses from our forwards.

“We have numerous chances that went to waste and we need to rectify it. I hope the forwards will get it right tomorrow (today).”

Besides the BJSS match, two other matches today will provide an insight into the front runners for the title this year.

The combine Bandar Penawar SS-Thunderbolt team will be up against Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) at the Tun Razak Stadium. MBPJ lost 0-2 to Anderson in their opening match.

BPSS-Thunderbolt won their opening match against their juniors and will be looking for another win today.

The other match to watch out for is the Anderson versus the national women’s team in Ipoh.

BPSS-Thunderbolt coach Wan Roslan Wan Rahman said their aim is not to drop any points in their bid to win the league title.

“We have to collect maximum points from all matches. That is our target. We have a good work-out yesterday but we need to see improvement in the next game,” he said.

Last year BPSS played second fiddle to BJSS but Wan Roslan wants them to win the title this year.

He reckons his team is stronger after the merger with Tenaga Nasional who supplied three players – Faisal Saari and twins Shazrul Imran Nazli and Shazril Irwan Nazli.

KUALA LUMPUR: Defending champions Bukit jalil Sports School (BJSS) got their MHF-Milo-NSC Junior Hockey League campaign in Division One off to a winning start when they beat their Juniors 2-0 at the KL Hockey Stadium here yesterday.

Ahmad Termizi ismail was the hero for the double champions, scoring a field goal in each half to give them full points.

He opened the scoring in the 19th minute and added the second in the 40th minute of a rain-delayed match.

Bukit Jalil SS coach S. Prakash said it was the three points that mattered, not the score line.


Going through: BJSS’ Mohd Haziq Shamsul trying to stop BJSS Junior’s Nor Azrul Abdul Rahman (right) during their MJHL match at the Pantai Stadium on Friday.
“We still have a long way to go and it is important to start with a win. We need to keep improving with each match.”

The national women’s hockey team (MWHA) got off to a losing debut, going down 1-3 to newcomers Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) at the Seremban Two Hockey Stadium.

Mohd Nor Aqmal put UniKL ahead in the 26th minute with a field goal before Amir Farid Ahmad Fuzi scored a brace in the 27th and 34th minutes.

The national women’s team scored their consolation goal in the 53rd minute through Siti Noor Amarina off a penalty corner.

In another Division One match, title contenders Bandar Penawar Sports School (BPSS)-Thunderbolt also got off to a winning start, thrashing their Juniors 5-1 at the Bandar Penawar Hockey Stadium.

Mohd Ammar Zahari (11th, 14th), Shahrusahadan Basri (45th), Mohd Amirol Aideed (55th) and Mohd Shaharil Saabab (59th) scored for BPSS-Thunderbolt.

The BPSS Juniors got their solitary goal through Mohd Sufi Ismat in the eighth minute.

In Ipoh, Anderson scored a goal in each half to beat Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) 2-0 at the Sultan Azlan Shah Stadium.

Goals from Mohd Soffian Kamaruddin (12th) and Jasdev Singh (54th) gave Anderson all three points.

The Division Two season got off to an acrimonious start when SMK Datuk Taha’s Amirul Iskanriah was red-carded in the opening match against Tunku Besar Sports School (TBSS) at the Tampin Hockey Stadium.

Amirul was shown the green card in the 24th minute before being flashed the yellow card in the 32nd minute. Then, in the 55th minute, he received his marching orders.

The match also saw three other SMK Datuk Taha and two TBSS players receiving card warnings.

TBSS won the match 3-0.

In the other two Division Two matches, Penang Free School and Ipoh City Council drew 1-1 while debutants Sabah MSN hammered SMK Pengkalan Permatang 10-0.

RESULTS

DIVISION ONE

BUKIT JALIL SS 2 BJSS Jr 0

ANDERSON 2 MBPJ 0

BPSS-THUNDERBOLT 5 BPSS Jr 1

MWHA 1 UNIKL 3

DIVISION TWO

PENANG FREE-USM 1 IPOH CC-MSN 1

SMK DATUK TAHA 0 TUNKU BESAR SS 3

SMK PP 0 SABAH-MSN 10