Malaysia: D-Day for the women's game 
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| Malaysia |
August 8, 2005
New Straits Times, Malaysia
> Page Views 1112
Ranjini Thangaraju
THE future of women’s hockey could very well lie in the hands of four parties when they meet at the Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS) today.
The four parties — BJSS, Malaysian Women’s Hockey Association (MWHA), National Sports Council (NSC) and Physical Education Department of the Education Ministry — will decide the fate of the sport as the issue is one of grassroots development of women’s hockey.
Timesport had highlighted last week the issue of BJSS, the Junior Hockey League defending champions, having to withdraw from this year’s tournament because they only have six players in the squad and the absence of a coach for three years.
The solution to this problem will be provided by MWHA, who have scouted 35 players from the Champion Schools and the recent Tunas Cemerlang tournament to replenish the school’s Under-16 and Under-18 squads.
Meanwhile, the Education Ministry is also seeking the assistance of the association to select the right candidates for coaches, rationalising that the association knows best to select the right coaches to work with national coach C.R. Kumar.
The MWHA already has several candidates in mind, amongst others being Leo Vinci, Rosmimi Jamalani and R. Vivekanandan - the same three candidates who failed to get a reply from the Ministry after attending the interview for the post in 2002.
Hopefully, someone gets hired this time.
According to MWHA secretary S. Shamala, the association is on the lookout for four coaches. "MWHA will hire four coaches in all, two for each school, one for the Under-16 and the other for the Under-18 squad.
"All the candidates we spoke to are very positive. We hope to wrap-up this issue in a month if all goes well," she said.
"We are also trying to build an official link with the Bandar Penawar Sport School because they have been functioning excellently on their own and are always consistent in their work," she added.
This leads us to ask: What is the Ministry’s role in this issue, apart from just being present at the meeting?
The MWHA lists out the possible candidates, conducts the interviews and even selects the final candidate, while the Ministry has the easy task of posting the appointment letters to the successful coaches.
Basically, the MWHA is shouldering the Ministry’s responsibilities when the BJSS is supposed to be under the supervision of the Ministry.
The least the Ministry can do at today’s meeting is to make sure that the future of the sport is secure once the issues are settled.
And the best person to take on this role will be former BJSS principal and current Education Ministry Director of Sports Policy and Development Jalaluddin Othman.
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