TNB league provides big boost for Sarawak hockey
THE 2018 TNB Sarawak Hockey League gave the game a big boost which makes it a big success.
This year’s edition had three divisions - the Men’s Open, the Women’s Open and the U16 boys.
The blue ribbon men’s league saw 11 teams fighting it out while the other two divisions each had five teams.
“We would have more teams in the Men’s Open but the U18 students could not play due to exams,” said Sarawak head coach C Sivarsubramaniam.
There were 15 men’s team last year.
Last year’s TNB was held earlier in the year but this being a Sukma year meant that it had to start later.
It was good to see five U16 boys teams from the schools participating. Unfortunately, there were not enough U16 girls team for tournament director Kangot Awan to organise a separate draw.
Kangot, who is the Hockey Association of Sarawak ( HAS) secretary, has been the tournament director ever since the league’s inception in 2016.
Credit goes to SMK Tebakang for being willing to put their raw U16 girls in the Women’s Open.
However, it was painful to see them getting hammered every time they played.
The Women’s Open actually came close to being cancelled as there were not enough teams and only the participation from the schools saved it.
Paku-Batu Lintang, coached by former international Catherine Lambor, won the Women’s crown with All Div second and KHA third.
Paku Jrs also won the U16 boys’ crown when they beat SMK Penrissen No. 1’s Excalibur.
One XOX won the Men’s title when they beat Eleven Warrior 4-2 in a thrilling penalty shootout after drawing 2-2 in regulation time. Third place went to Belia Git, who was last year’s losing finalists.
“I am happy we managed to get third considering that most of our players has zero skills compared to the other teams,” said Belia’s Dangerous L Mathew.
Sivar was mostly pleased with what he saw during the course of the league.
“The individual skills were there but the team work was not good. There is not enough team preparation prior to the league,” said Sivar.
It is probably difficult for the teams to train on the turf as the rental is costly plus they also have work commitments.
Besides giving the players a chance to compete, the league is also a training ground for the HAS technical crew.
It will hopefully help HAS when they are called upon by the Malaysian Hockey Confederation ( MHC) to help out in national tourneys.
MHC technical director Terry Walsh’s views on the league is probably most succinct.
“The quality of the play is not that important to me.
“That part is only important at the very high end of domestic competitions,” said Walsh when asked about the quality of the final. “The opportunity to play is more important,” he said.
“Leagues help to develop the players. Tournament does not develop players,” he pointed out.
He was pleased to see the atmosphere of the final which definitely had excitement written all over it.