Headline The smart money's on Terengganu to retain title MediaTitle The Star Date 04 Sep 2015 Color Full Color Section Sports Circulation 338,368 Page No 77 Readership 1,032,000 Language English ArticleSize 311 cm² Journalist S. Ramaguru AdValue RM 10,334 Frequency Daily PR Value RM 31,002 The smart money's on Terengganu to retain title

ByS. RAMAGURU overall crowns last year. have a consistent goalscorer. He is Misron cautioned against taking There is little to separate the two the top scorer in the division with KLHC for granted. : Kuala Lumpur star­studded teams. 12 goals and is set to win the top "It's never easy playing KLHC. Hockey Club (KLHC) are out to KLHC have six Pakistanis ­ Ali marksman award for the third They have the experience and regain their status as the top dogs in Shan, Waseem Ahmad, Mohamed season. players to trouble us. They also the Premier Division of the Umar Bhutta, Ahmad Ajaz, Fareed Skipper Mohamed Razie Rahim have the psychological edge of Hockey League. Ahmad and Mohamed Usman ­ is KLHC's top goal­getter. The pen­ beating us in the first game," said The question is whether the while there are three Argentinians alty corner specialist, the topscor­ Azlan. eight­time league champions ­ Jose Leandro Tolini, Pablo Javier er award winner in 2011, has "But we've recovered from that KLHC can get the better ofhigh­rid­ Trevisan and Ignicio Quilez ­ and seven goals to his credit. loss. ing Terengganu at the Batu Buruk one Pakistani ­ Ahmad Shakeel Coach K. Dharmaraj is confident "Now we want revenge as well Hockey Stadium in Kuala Butt ­ in the Terengganu side. KLHC will rise to the occasion to as to be the No. 1 team in the coun­ Terengganu today? The only problem with KLHC is snatch the title. try. I think the team that can score KLHC were 6­2 victors when that they are perennial slow start­ "We knew from the start of the and hold their defence well will they met in the first round but for ers and only come alive in the last season, it will come down to this come out winners," he added. today's clash, the smart money is quarter of the match. Terengganu game to settle the title issue. We There is also an extra incentive on Terengganu. The east coast side have no such problems, often beat them in the opening game, for Terengganu to win in front of lead KLHC in the six­team table by starting with a bang and scoring but Terengganu have grown from their home fans as the trophy pres­ a point and should retain the enough goals to take them over the strength to strength since then. We entation will be held after the league title if recent form is taken line. have got to take the fight to them match. into account. The statistics also show the and also make fewer mistakes. It's The other two matches today In addition to their eight league teams are evenly matched in not going be easy at all," said hold little significance to the league titles (2006­2013), KLHC also won attack and defence. Dharmaraj. standings with third­placed the overall title five times. Terengganu have scored 30 Despite having home ground Sapura taking on bottom side As for Terengganu, they are in goals and conceded 14 while KLHC advantage and needing just a Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) their third season in the competi­ have netted 28, also conceding 14. draw to emerge champions, and fourth­placed tion but bagged the league and In , Terengganu Terengganu defender Azlan facing fifth­placed Maybank.

TODAY'S FIXTURES

MALAYSIA HOCKEY LEAGUE

PREMIER DIVISION UNIKL VSSAPURA­6PM MAYBANK vs TENAGA NASIONAL ­ 8pm (Hationa! Hockey Stadium Pitch II, Bukitjalil) TERENGGANU vs KLHC­8pm (Batu Buruk Hockey Stadium, K Terengganu)

P W D L F A PtS TERENGGANU 9 8 0 1 30 14 24 KLHC 9 7 2 0 28 14 23 SAPURA 9 4 2 3 19 20 14 TENAGA 9 4 0 5 15 21 12 MAYBANK 9 1 1 7 16 26 4 UNIKL 9 0 1 8 15 28 1

DIVISION ONE ■ GROUP A MBI vs TNB THUNDERBOLT ­ 5pm (Allan Shah Stadium, Ipoh) MASUM­USM vs MSNT­/PHT ­ 5pm (Kuala Lumpur HA Stadium) ■ GROUPB SSTMI vs UNIKL YOUNG GUNS ­ 5pm (Bandar Penawar Hockey Stadium) NURINSAFI vs PKS­KPM (Sungei Petani Hockey Stadium) POLITEKNIK MALAYSIA vs UITM ­ 5pm (7aman Daya Hockey Stadium, lohor Baru) WOMEN'S LEAGUE ■ GROUP A THE COPS VS POLITEKNIK MALAYSIA ­ 5pm (National Hockey Stadium Pitch (Bukit Jalil)