Malaysia: Three in with a chance to enter last eight
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| Malaysia |
August 27, 2005
The Star Online
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SAS Pahang, Royal Malay Regiment (RMR) and Telekom Malaysia are the favourites to go through to the quarter-finals from the qualifying stage which begins today in the Malaysia Hockey League.
The three teams, if they get past their lowly opponents, will join league champions Sapura, Ernst and Young, Tenaga Nasional, Bank Simpanan Nasional and Maybank in the last eight for the knock-out stage which will be held next Friday and Sunday.
SAS Pahang will play TUDM while RMR meet Dolphin and bottom placed PISC-Nur Insafi take on Telekom Malaysia at home in Sungei Petani today.
Yesterday, PISC completed their preliminary round match against Ernst and Young in Sungei Petani. The latter thrashed them 8-1 to finish second to Sapura in the final standings.
Although no upsets are expected in today's qualifier, SAS coach Benedict Arrais prefers to think differently.
?It is better not to underestimate any team and be lulled into complacency. We will make sure our players stay alert.
?It is good that the qualifiers are played over two legs. It gives us a chance to redeem ourselves if we falter in the first leg,? said Benedict.
For the quarter-finals Sapura, Ernst and Young and Tenaga Nasional are the seeded teams and they will meet winners from the qualifiers in the knock-out stage.
Bank Simpanan Nasional (BSN) and Maybank, fourth and fifth in the league, have been slated to meet in the quarter-finals.
In the quarter-finals Tenaga will play the winners of the Telekom-PISC match while Ernst and Young will meet either RMR or Dolphin.
Champions Sapura take on the winners of the SAS-TUDM match.
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