Shakeel Abbasi optimistic for semi-finals against Yayasan Negeri Sembilan – MHL Cup
Shakeel Abbasi, the skipper of Yayasan Negeri Sembilan (YNS), is quite optimistic that his team will beat Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club (KLHC) in the semi-finals of the Malaysian Hockey League (MHL) Cup being scheduled to play on March 13, 2011. He has stated that YNS are not fearful of the league’ title holders and are ready to overcome the front-runners in the upcoming contests.
Abbasi, a senior player of the Pakistan hockey team, is currently leading YNS in the MHL and his squad is ranked fifth in the league. In the MHL Cup quarter-finals, YNS defeated University Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) 5-3 and 4-2 in the first and second leg matches respectively and with a 9-5 winning aggregate they set a place for themselves at the semi-finals.
In comparison to KLHC, the boys of YNS are less experienced and imperfect in their game play but have shown courage and class in their matches. The win aggregate for KLHC is 26-3 which is far better than YNS. KLHC thrashed Bandar Penawar Sports School (BPSS) by 11-2 and 15-1 respectively in the quarter-finals.
The captain was of the view that the league winner was not an extra-ordinary team and that his squad was capable of beating them despite their better standing in the league. He stated, “I respect KLHC as they have performed consistently but we have the ability to defeat them if we put our minds to it and play an intelligent game”.
YNS is comprised of international players as well as local talent and they are only 140 minutes away from the finals of the event. Abbasi said that no competition is easy but they had potential to outclass any team.
While explaining his teams current wins, he said that they earned the fifth position in the league due to absence of international players. Most of the foreign names returned to their respective countries due to their personal commitments. He believes they could have acquired a higher place in the league if they contested all the matches with a complete squad.
Hasnizam Ah Sim, the head coach of YNS while speaking to the media said that they are pleased over the past winning performances. He stated, “My hope is that my charges continue to play good hockey in the semi-finals. We are glad we won convincingly as confidence is really important at this stage of the tournament.”
It is vital to mention here that the title holders have defeated YNS on two different occasions by 6-3 and 7-2. Abbasi maintained that they are quite ready to face KLHC. YNS clinched the overall title back in 1996 has made a return into the league after eleven years. It has had eleven foreign players in its side of which most belong to the Subcontinent.
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