TNB sides charged with local energy eye podium finishes

KUALA LUMPUR: TNB is banking on local energy to charge its two teams – Tenaga Nasional and TNB Thunderbolt – for podium finishes in the Malaysia Hockey League (MHL).

Both the sides are parading all-local line-ups. Tenaga Nasional are powered by 10 national players while the junior Thunderbolt team boast nine national juniors.

TNB chief corporate affairs officer Datuk Omar Sidek believes the teams have strength in depth in every department to give the other sides boasting foreign signings a run for their money.

“We want Tenaga Nasional to finish in the top two. As for the junior Thunderbolt team, we’re expecting a podium finish,” said Omar.

“TNB is also proud that we have the bulk of players who represent Malaysia and they’ve been playing together for quite some time now,” said Omar.

The national players in the Tenaga Nasional squad are Syed Mohd Syafiq Syed Cholan, Nor Shafiq Sumantri, Muhd Ramadan Rosli, Muhd Shahril Saabah, Muhd Firhan Ashari, Muhd Amirul Aideed, S. Kumar, Faiz Helmi Jali, Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin Tengku Abdul Jalil and Nik Muhamad Aiman Nik Rozemi.

Last year, Tenaga Nasional finished third in the Premier Division and the TNB Cup (overall cup).

In the Tan Sri P. Alagendra Cup, Tenaga lost 2-1 to KL Hockey Club (KLHC) in the quarter-finals.

Omar added that the young Thunderbolt side are strong enough to hold their own against the foreign stars of the other teams.

“Teams like Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) and Terengganu have import players but our young players won’t be intimidated,” said Omar after the introductory session for the Tenaga Nasional and Thunderbolt players yesterday.

Last year, Thunderbolt stunned seasoned campaigners Maybank 2-1 in the opening Premier Division match.

Meanwhile, TNB presented a sponsorship cheque of RM4mil for the fifth and final year to Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) treasurer S. Selvendran, who said that the money would be used to run all local and international hockey tournaments in 2019.

The total sponsorship was RM20mil, which was from 2015 to 2019.

Omar said that the MHC should use the money to help the national team qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

“I believe that hockey is one sport that has a chance to feature in the Olympics,” said Omar.

Malaysia last featured in the Olympics 19 years ago – in Sydney 2000.