James Chew and Jernayal Singh hope to enlist and enliven hockey in Vietnam.

Heard of hockey in Vietnam? Perhaps not in the past but it is not going to be a bad situation for ever if the effort taken by a die hard hockey duo are any indication. Recently, a small, firm step has been taken by two Singapore based Hockey aficionados to introduce, develop and enliven field hockey in Vietnam.

Singapore based James Chew and Jernayal Singh are leaving no stone unturned to turn a fortune for hockey in Vietnam. James, 45, plays hockey in Singapore at Club level while Jernayal is a former Malaysian international, both now settled in Singapore.

The duo are helping to build up field hockey in Vietnam ( 70 % of 87 million people are below 35). Currently, there are about 60 hockey players, a dozen or so residing overseas. There are just two teams in Ho Chi Minn City — Tornados Vietnam Hockey Club and Saigon Raiders Hockey Club.

Says James: “We don’t have a full size hockey pitch, but make do playing on 20 x 40 m Futsal pitches. The RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) in Saigon South has a large grass soccer pitch which they used for hockey once, but now not use as their attempt to start a hockey team for the students fell through”

How is then things are managed? One might ask.

James replie: “We make up for the lack of hockey culture and also infrastructure, by being more organized. We are working very hard to secure the first full size synthetic hockey pitch in Vietnam, and also organised regular training sessions. This is a very large country and to develop hockey needs enormous efforts and funds”.

Agreed.

Very obviously, organizational problems are primitive. For an instance, the Vietnam Olympic Council (VOC) is not even affiliated to the FIH or Asian Hockey Federation. This makes more difficult to get funds or technical support from outside.

“I am trying to convince the VOC to join the AHF and FIH as I can see benefits, but the process of getting approval is slow” James rued in the sidelines of the Junior World Cup venue.

James and Jernayal, who played for Malaysia in the 1985 Junior World Cup, played a vital role in organizing first Vietnam Hockey Festival last year and are planning the have the second edition this year November.

“The second edition will be held 7 & 8 Nov 2009 (Sat & Sun). It is a 6 –a-side on small pitches of 20x40m size. I wish players from any part of the globe is welcome” invites James.

Jernayal Singh runs HockeyOne organization, interested in spreading hockey in Singapore as well. He is happy after long lobbying, the government there allotted a swimming pool to be converted into a hockey ground where HockeyOne is planning to lay a synthetic turf.

For more information on hockey and also the Vietnam Hockey Festival, please visit the website www.vietnamhockey.vn

Pic Caption: James Chew centre and Jarnayal Singh (left).