Excitement high as UniKL set up Charity Shield date with TNB

Kuala Lumpur (10 March 2021): One year back Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) accomplished a historic feat – winning the Charity Shield, Premier League and TNB Cup to earn the titles they rightfully deserved.

The treble winners then celebrated joyously to the lyrics of ‘We are the Champions’, a song made famous by British rock band Queen that has been an anthem for victories at sporting events worldwide.

UniKL will once again roll out their finest performance come Friday, 12 March, against Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) in the 2021 Malaysian Hockey League curtain-raiser Charity Shield match at the Bukit Jalil National Hockey Stadium (playoff 8pm).

The 2021 TNBMHL season begins tomorrow (11 March) with the men’s fixtures while the women’s league will start on March 15. All matches will be played at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil.

For the first time, the League will be conducted under new normal conditions laid out by the Government and Malaysian Hockey Confederation owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. There will be no spectators!

Amid all the setbacks and little euphoria, UniKL coach Megat Azrafiq Termizi and his assistant Saiful Azhar Mohd Afendi will leave no stone unturned to ensure the varsity team accomplish their mission unscathed.

“To begin, the players are geared up mentally for the challenges ahead. Despite the short training phases and lack of friendly matches that all teams have been facing due to the coronavirus pandemic and MCO, we have been progressing well in training,” he said.

“Our Charity shield match against TNB will be of most importance as a win will not only give us a good start but also provide us the motivation that we can repeat history and win titles again,” he added.

UniKL will look to their goal poachers in drag-flick specialist Muhammad Razie Abdul Rahim, Marhan Jalil, Sukri Abdul Mutalib,Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin and a core of experienced senior players in the likes of Baljit Singh Charun Singh, Harvinder Singh, and Mohd Izwan Firdaus Tajuddin.

However, in the absence of Ireland’s goalkeeper David Harte and a legion of foreign players who have been the backbone in UniKL’s success in the past, the task of keeping the opponents at bay from scoring will rest solely on national team goalkeeper Adrian Andy Albert.

The 24-year-old Sabahan showed his prowess in UniKL’s 3-2 victory over Terengganu Hockey Team in the 2020 Charity Shield match in Kuala Terengganu. A lot will be expected of Adrian on Friday.

Midfielder-cum-defender Baljit Singh, who has seen the varsity side rise from its infancy stages since 2012 said in his booming voice that UniKL must keep the ‘base discipline intact’ and their well-oiled formation and passing game in top gear without letting a moment of composure collapse throughout the league.

“We have to play decent hockey without thinking of the past, not letting the pressure of being treble winners get into us. Every team would love to beat us and we are also aiming to dismantle them,” added the 34-year-old who is an assistant coach in the MHC Development platform.

UniKL’s task now involves finding the chink in Tenaga Nasional Berhad’s armour, and then stop their electric charges to live up to the university’s motto of ‘Where Knowledge is Applied and Dreams Realised’