Controversy surrounds 49th 100 PLUS Tun Razak Cup before commencement
The 49th edition of Tun Razak Cup had been planned to be held this year with view to bring back its lost glory that was at peak in the 1960s.
This esteemed event has been losing its importance as time passed until the 1980s when it totally ended.
The Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) had the competition revived this year on April 2 but it was postponed to May 27 in order to avoid a clash with the Malaysian Junior Hockey League (MJHL).
Along with the postponement, MHF announced that the event will have a new format from 2011 onwards with 20 teams from five zones to be divided into two divisions for the first round of the competition, each comprising of four teams. This meant that the competition
will be held for two months as compared to its previous two-week format.
The five zones to battle amongst each other during the first round are North, South, East, Central and West. Moreover, a few teams from abroad had also been invited to meet the count and had been adjusted into zones as Singapore in the South Zone with Labuan
and Brunei in the West Zone.
According to the new design, the top two performing teams of each zone will lead into the Razak Cup fight in Division One whereas the bottom two will play for the Division Two.
However, such kind of planning from the MHF was worth acknowledging but it lacked implementation.
One of the issues with the new format was that the postponement had been made due to shortage of umpires.
Another recent question brought up to the surface was whether the national players are allowed to represent states in the first round of Razak Cup.
However, it had previously been decided that these players would just be allowed to play in the final round that is to be held in Malacca in late July.
This means that the state teams will be in trouble both ways because they will be lacking the national players as well as the top class juniors busy with the Project 2013 team’s tour to Australia and New Zealand, which is during the same period.
Conclusively, 45 of the best Malaysian players will not be available for the first and second qualifying round in late June, due to a Europe Tour ahead as well as the Singapore’s Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) Under-18 tournament that is to take place from
June 17-25.
Another recent problem is the withdrawal of names of PDRM and Singapore from participating in the Cup this month. Moreover, Terengganu faced a legal suit due to lack of finance.
However, the financial issue may be resolved if the zone asks for help from the Sports Minister and NSC DG, who claim to be there in case of financial problems in the state.
However, the situation needs to be addressed as soon as possible in order to commence the competition on the date scheduled.
The only suggestible solution to this matter is to drop down the qualifier rounds and hold the cup in July with the addition of some foreign hockey players, hence, improving the whole scenario for the prestigious event to help earn back its’ lost glory.
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