Excalibur HC win HAS Under-23 tournament
KUCHING: SMK Penrissen alumniwontheHockeyAssociation of Sarawak’s U23 tournament at the Sarawak Hockey Stadium on Sunday.
They defeated Kuching Hockey Association B in the six- a- side men’s final.
The alumni, who played under the school’s Excalibur club banner, fielded two teams.
KHA also fielded two teams with Falcon HC’s two teams rounding out the field.
Falcon HC are formed by Sains Kuching Utara alumni.
KHA B won Group A with Excalibur A finishing second to make the cross- over semis.
Group B was won by Excalibur B with KHA A in second place.
The semis saw KHA A beating their clubmates via a penalty shootout after finishing 1-1 in the lacklustre 10 mins regulation play.
Excalibur B stopped their teammates 3- 0 in an entertaining match.
Ian Walker scored the only marker in the final to help his team lift the trophy.
KHA B salvaged some pride when they beat Excalibur A 2-1 to take the third place.
In the seven- a- side women’s draw, five teams were in the fray.
Tasik Biru, staffed by ex SMK Paku players like national team hopeful Elizabeth E. Martin, easily rolled over their opponents to win the round-robin league.
KHC B was second with KHC A in third.
Miri’s SMK St Columba was fourth with SCH in fifth.
Excalibur coach Norden Tikot was quite pleased with how his players fared in the two- day tourney.
His U16 team also finished second to SMK Paku.
“Quite a few of our players in the U16 were in their first competition,” he said.
“We did not set any target. I think that helped them to just go out there and play.”
He was quite satisfied with how his Form Three players performed but noted that the Form Four boys still lacked finishing skills.
In the U23 draw, his players were mostly 18-20 year- olds with a few juniors.
He admitted that most of the players had not trained in recent months.
“Fortunately, their skills are still there and they still had the teamwork as they had played together for five years previously,” said Norden.