KUCHING: SMK Paku and SMK Song were crowned the boys and girls champions of the Sarawak Zone Schools High Performance Sports (SPTS) U14 hockey championship that ended at the State Hockey Stadium yesterday.
Surprisingly, all finals and play-offs for third and fourth placings were decided on penalty shootouts in this year’s competition.
In the boys final, SMK Paku and SMK Muara Tuang played to a scoreless draw at full-time and the former won 2-1 in the penalty shootout.
SMK Paku coach and also teacher in charge of hockey Glyn Goee was happy with the performance of his team, saying they had performed up to expectations.
“With an astroturf hockey pitch now at our school to train our players, there is no reason for the boys not to do well,” he said after the final.
“It is easier for our boys and girls to pick up the game on proper facilities and this win is a very good start to our ambition to excel in this sport,” he added.
Glyn also hoped that yesterday’s achievement would attract more students to take up hockey and also motivate and inspire other players to improve their skills.
“Frankly speaking, we were not well prepared for this tournament but focusing on preparing
the U15 players for the MBKS Kuching Festival hockey tournament,” he said.
Glyn also noted that some of the teams improved greatly, especially SMK Meradong, SMK Muara Tuang and SMK DP Kedit Betong.
“I believe they can do even better if they have a proper turf to train on instead of playing on cement floors or on grass,” he reasoned.
“I would like to extend my invitation to players from other schools to come and train at our hockey pitch. They just need to contact our school and we will make arrangements for them,” he added. In third place were SMK Penrissen who beat SMK Luar Bandar Sibu 2-1 also on penalty shootout after the score was tied 0-0 at full-time.
Meanwhile, in the girls final that also ended in an 0-0 draw at full-time, SMK Song defeated SMK Paku 1-0 in the penalty shootout to win the title that they last won in 2003. “We are very happy today to become the champions after the lapse of 11 years,” said team manager cum coach Antai Boing.
Despite only training on cement floor and on the synthetic track at Song Sports Complex, Antai said his girls had shown strong resolve, determination and team spirit to win the title.
“They controlled the game for 80 per cent of the time but had no luck to score goals. They did well in the penalty shootout and I am proud of them,” he added.
It was also a double victory for Antai because his team Kapit won the PSKPP hockey title at the same venue a week earlier.
“The achievement is a good improvement for us because we were in fifth place last year. It is also a fruitful trip for us because we had to take the express boat from Song to Sibu where we travelled from Sibu to Kuching by bus,” he said.
In the play-off for third and fourth placings, SMK Bako edged SMK Penrissen 2-1 in a penalty shootout after full-time play ended with a scoreless draw.
The two-day championship participated by eight boys teams and six girls teams was organised by SMK Penrissen No. 1.
SPTS technical officer Mohammad Ann gave away the prizes while also present at the closing ceremony were organising chairman Louis Simon Peter who is also headmaster of SMK Penrissen No.1 and state technical chairman Kangot Awan.