Centrally located and buzzing with a flurry of activities, the Kuala Lumpur Hockey Association and its sporting environ offer a whiff of fresh air in an otherwise busy, work oriented capital city of Malaysia.

Kuala Lumpur Hockey Association came into being in the late 80s, before that the hockey activities of the city coming under Selangor Association.

Formation of Kuala Lumpur Hockey Association led to hectic hockey activities and as expectedly so, many young boys and girls who happen to get a feel of hockey on its grounds, moved smoothly to State and National teams.

The area in fact has two synthetic hockey turfs. One, owned by the KLHA and the other by the Education Department, Government of Malaysia. The latter of course is in disuse condition when the writer visited in the early second week of this month en route Ipoh to India.

There was some faulty placement of the turf, it is learnt, the turf therefore served the purpose very little. It is also expected the old one will soon be replaced.

The main turf, which is directly under the look out of KLHA, of which smiling Rajamanickam is the long standing Secretary, is abuzz with activities. A coach from the MSN (Malaysian equivalent of Sports Authority of India) was in attendance, and a couple of school teams were getting the coaching tips from the professional.

It was heartening to witness batches of school boys and girls, as young as 10, coming and having their drill and dole routinely.

Rajamanickam informs that many youngsters of this pitch made significant progress and are in the State and National teams. He however feels a need for a better system than the one existing at present, that should be put in place so that the KLHA’s talent base is truly reflected on its roll of honour. Presently domicile is given credence to select a team for the state. A boy may have got a job in a city, like KL, but if he belongs to some other city by virtue of birth he has to perforce represent the State in the inter-state championships.

The veteran administrator has a point and it is a matter to ponder over by the concerned policy makers. Every effort should be done so that the feat of those who work at grassroot hockey get their due.

Rajamanickam, a known name in the Malaysian hockey circle, sits in the first floor where the KLHA is located.

It is spacious strewn with a variety of sporting paraphernalia. Boys and girls throng here, move freely, leave their belongings before their matches, collect sponsor’s jersey.

About half a dozen Indian origin youngsters turned up that day (see pic). They came here to register their department’s name so that they can play the game henceforth. “Ours is not a serious professional type of hockey. We want to enjoy the game and will do the same after registration”, said one of them.

Dharmaraj, younger brother of Embaraj, a popular defender of late 80s, was also there for a brief while. He is a regular coach for kids in KLHA’s list of coaches.

Rajamanickam seems to be content in whatever he could achieve in KLHA and does not possess any interest whatsoever to dabble in national level administration. “Here at least I have the enough freedom to act and improve the things”, he smiles at you with loaded meaning.

Pic: Top: Daljeet Singh, Ashwinderjit Singh, Gurdev Singh, Amt Pal Singh Nanwah
an Harjnder Singh with KLHA Secretary Rajamanickam