DESPITE being formed only a few months before the Malaysian Women’s Hockey League started, HockAdemy Sports Club romped home with the League title yesterday.
Playing at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil, HockAdemy hammered Mutiara Impian 13-0 to end up with 25 points.
However, HockAdemy’s win was “marred” by Terengganu Ladies Team’s (TLT) decision to send in a protest note to the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC), saying that the newcomers were not registered with the Kuala Lumpur HA.
HockAdemy founder and KLHA president Datuk Seri Megat D. Shahriman cleared the air.
“HockAdemy have sent in the affiliation forms as well as paid the fees. It’s only that KLHA Council have yet to hold a meeting to endorse them officially.
“However, it’s only a formality as we at KLHA did not have the time to call for a meeting.
“If Terengganu are unhappy, HockAdemy are ready to play a match with them and the losing side shall apologise.
“That’s all. In the sporting world, let’s be a little sporting,” said Megat.
It was a nervous start for the champions, but once they got going there was no stopping them.
In the first leg, they had hammered Mutiara Impian 11-0.
Terengganu Ladies Team finished second on 23 points, PKS Uniten third on 20 points and Police Blue Warriors fourth on 11 points.
And the HockAdemy men also reached their target as coach S. Selvaraju had targeted the sixth spot, and claimed it.
“The women were simply awesome in their debut and even the men achieved their target even though both our coaches had only two weeks to train their players,” said Megat.
The HockAdemy men’s team were made up of three imports and former internationals as well as young players.
The women’s team consisted of six of the best national players in the country.
“I hope the HockAdemy story will encourage more state affiliates to form clubs and field teams in the MHL and MWHL.
“This is the only way forward to a bigger pool of quality players for the nation,” said Megat.
The semi-finals will be held tomorrow with HockAdemy playing Police and Terengganu meeting UniTen.