SMK Bako, SMK St Columba triumph in Centre Of Development tourney
KUCHING: SMK Bako and SMK St Columba were crowned as the champions of the boys and girls categories of the SSC- MSNS Inter- Centre Of Development For Hockey Competition that ended at the Sarawak Hockey Stadium yesterday.
In the 28th minute, Afif Hyaiqal Rizan scored the only goal in the final against SMK Penrissen No 1.
Finishing in third place in the six-team boys competition were SMK Kabong.
The girls categorySMK St Columba beat SMK Bau by 1- 0 through agoal by Dorrisa Muhan Andrew in the 11th minute.
Coming in third place were SMK Sebauh from Bintulu.
SMK St Columba’s Lady Annie Gideon was adjudged the Most Promising Goalkeeper ( Girl) while Hazim Aziman Roslan from SMK Kabong was named the Most Promising Goalkeeper ( Boy).
The Most Promising Player awards went to Felicity Candy Zaini of SMK Sebauh (Girl) and Rioma Utok from SMK Penrissen No. 1 ( Boy).
Eighteen boys and 18 girls were selected for a training camp in early January to be roped into the state back-up squads.
Hockey Association of Sarawak president Datin Mary Sadiah Zainuddin, who closed the event, commended the Sarawak Sports Corporation ( SSC) and Sarawak State Sports Council ( MSNS) for organising the competition aimed at unearthing new talents and also gauging their standard after a year-long training programme at the respective schools which are also the centres of development for hockey.
According to Mary, there are currently six development centres for primary schools and 10 development centres for secondary schools in Sarawak.
“I am happy to see that the number of players have increased and if there are 20 players in each school, we will have 200 players,” she said.
She hoped to see that out of the 200 players, 20 per cent of them will continue to play at higher levels.
“I would like to congratulate and say thank you to al l the teacher/coaches who have done a tremendous good job in training/ coaching the students at your respective schools.
“We are really appreciative of your contribution in helping to train and produce good players for the state.
“I am also looking forward to this tournament being organised on a more regular basis, such as having it every quarterly,” added Mary.
Also present were SSC acting head of Sports Development Division Daud Aba, Sarawak head coach C Sivasubramaniam and MSNS head of Team Sports Unit Mikar Changgan.