Foul!

Roelant Oltmans is Malaysia's new hockey coach Here's a message I received today: With Roelant Oltmans in and Terry Walsh still retained, how much is it costing us? Oltmans, 64, signed a two-year contract with the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) recently. He replaced Stephen Van Huizen, who is now the national assistant coach. The other coaching line-ups have not changed, including technical director Terry Walsh. The Malaysian government has, since May 9, repeatedly said it lacks funds. With the recent (debatable and questionable) revealtion of Lim Teong Kim's RM175,000 per month salary and claims that sports associations have not received funding, it is only natural for certain quarters to question the financial impact of Oltmans and Walsh's positions. Oltmans was Pakistan's head coach prior his Malaysian stint. In a letter addressed to the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) the Dutchman said: “I’m responsible for the performance ...

A person cannot be declared unfit for selection as a subinspector in Delhi Police or the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) just because he has tattoo marks on his body, the Central Administrative Tribunal has said, reported Hindustan Times. Rules on tattoo marks on the body in the recruitment process of the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) have been a grey area due to a lack of clarity on the terms and conditions contained in the recruitment notice. There is no bar in recruiting candidates in the CAPFs, Delhi police and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) with permanent tattoo as per the SSC recruitment rules. However, a 2012 home ministry notification allowed candidates with a “small engraving/tattoo of name or religious symbol on the inner face of the arms or hands” for enrolment, but said, “Candidates having permanent tattoo on any other part of the body be debarred for recruitment in CAPFs…” This ambiguity on recruitment rules was the subject mat...

As published in Malay Mail today  Haresh Says By Haresh Deol TAMIL songs greet you the minute you open the door. There stands M. Nagarajan with several strands of hair neatly combed on his balding head. The 53-year-old never fails to flash a smile at his customers as the scent in the barber shop — a combination of sweet smelling hair tonic and coconut oil — fills the air. It is never easy finding a barber you can ‘trust’. But with Nagarajan, I am able to sit comfortably and close my eyes as he whips out a good old straight razor and places it just above my Adam’s apple before he starts shaving. Nagarajan hails from Tiruchirappalli, 333km south of Chennai, India. I have been his loyal customer for six years. My last visit to the barber shop where he works in Lembah Jaya, Ampang made me a sad man. “I’m leaving Malaysia for good in August,” said Nagarajan in Bahasa Melayu. His command of the language is admirable; able to shame Malaysians who remain ignorant about the ...

Deepavali falls on Nov 2 which is a Saturday, said Penang Hindu Association deputy president P. Murugiah. He said there was confusion among the public since many calendars including “horse-racing” ones have stated that Deepavali falls on Nov 3. That was taken from The Star's report as published here . However, a quick check online reveals that Deepavali, or Diwali, will be celebrated on Sunday (Nov 3) in India - the birth place of Hinduism. In fact this was stated by India's national postal service India Post as seen here .   The Indian government, meanwhile, stated: Nov 2 as a restricted holiday for Deepavali while Nov 3 is a gazetted holiday. In short, Diwali is celebrated throughout India on Nov 3. According to TimeandDate.com , Deepavali falls on Nov 3 while another celebration Naraka Chaturdas  is on Nov 2. UK's Huffington Post had in its write up on the Festival of Lights said the celebration was on Sunday. For the record, there is a large I...

UPDATE March 14 (9.19am):  The team manager of the national cycling squad to the Asian Cycling Championship in New Delhi Ibrahim Mustapha must face the music for dereliction of duty, said Youth and Sports Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek. Read the full report here . ------ UPDATE 12.03pm: Here is an SMS sent by the team manager Ibrahim Mustapha to the Malaysian National Cycling Federation deputy president Naim Mohamad; Datuk Naim, lagu dan bendera telah diserahkan kpd sekretariat pada 5 mac dihotel royal . Penyampai medal paracycling divelodrom pada jam 645ptg lagu negara ku dan bendera dinaikan/berkumandang penyampaian dibuat divelodrom. Hari ni 9 paralimpik balik jam 1230. Untuk komfon semasa lagu dimainkan tel jo jurulatih 012#$%^&*@. Dia ada ambil video majlis penyampaian. tk. Hj Ibrahim Mustapha. And here's what Naim had to say: I am sorry this happened. I will wait for a written explanation from the team manager. As a team manager he should be at the venue as a...

"Hockey is safe, hockey is clean. It is one of our qualities, our selling point that the sport is the cleanest around."  Those were the words of International Hockey Federation (FIH) president Leandro Negre as reported here . Match-fixing and doping have reared its ugly head in recent times with a string of athletes facing bans and fines over such unsporting activities. At the same Press Conference held at Royal Chulan Hotel early Wednesday,  Negre went on to say that "Indian hockey is back" as seen in this article . And it was this observation of his which was rather interesting; “In India it was always about internal problems and people fighting. I am glad to say that now under Hockey India, things have improved...." HD says: Isn't that a problem everywhere? Read more at: http://english.astroawani.com/news/show/indian-hockey-is-back-865 Read more at: http://english.astroawani.com/news/show/hockey-clean-from-match-fixing-doping-8650?cp ...

It has been a roller-coaster year for the author. From being named Sports Journalist of the Year , venturing into a new job to receiving several letter of demands (one of them will now be tried next year), 2012 has been an 'interesting' journey. Here are some of the highlights of 2012 as seen on Foul! January Jan 4: Two athletes who competed at the Indonesia Sea Games were tested positive for banned substance. Jan 11: Negri Sembilan physiotherapist See Kim Leong passed away on Feb 5, 2011. Kim Leong's wife Audrey McLeod has not received a single cent as she was told her husband was " not insured ". Jan 14: BAM forms a three-man committee instead of hiring a high performance director. Told you so! Jan 19: The M-League 2012 was hardly a month old and yet it was rocked with match-fixing. Kes rasuah lagi. Jan 24: Contractors at the mercy of workers Jan 26: Johor prince takes over football Jan 28: Doctors against 1Care February Feb 1: Elyas ...

India, which has more than 1.3 billion people, recorded 24,000 cases of rape last year, a figure that has increased by 25 percent in the past six years.  Read the full article here . India was rocked with protests and rallies after a young girl was gang raped, beaten and thrown out of a moving bus two weeks ago. And after several major operations and even being transferred to a hospital in Singapore, the victim passed away this morning. According to IBN Live, 'The six men accused of raping and assaulting the 23-year-old paramedical student, who died after battling for her life for over 12 days in a Singapore hospital, will now be charged with murder.' Prime Minister Manmohan Singh - whose government has come under fire in handling the situation and ensuring safety of women folk in the nation - offered his condolences . So what has India learnt from this episode? That the presumed democracy and freedom of expression it believes to have was somewhat thwarted a...

The so-called Malaysian women’s team at the championships is made up of mainly Indian citizens who are working or studying or just visiting Malaysia.  The team is not entered by either of the two recognised national kabaddi bodies in the country – Malaysia Kabaddi Federation or the Kabaddi Association of Malaysia. It is learnt that the so-called team led by an official from Punjab had forged a letterhead of a non-existent kabaddi association in Malaysia to enter the team for the tournament. In Malaysia we would say - wah lau wei! A 'fake' national kabbadi team in India? This was brought to my attention. Read the full article here . What will the Malaysian governing body do about it - if true? That aside, there's a new Bahasa Malaysia magazine on racket sports in town. It's called 'Flick', focusing mainly on badminton and will be on sale at a major bookstore sometime next week. HD says: Wah lau wei.....

Let's ditch the serious stuff and talk about Liverpool. It's either you love them or you hate them. There are many stories about Liverpool and the term YNWA. Rumour has it that once upon a time a fan was bloody bored watching Liverpool play that he wrote to the club saying their performance was nothing but a big fat YAWN. Being a typical bloke from Liverpool, he misspelt the word as YNWA instead. Then someone told me YNWA means You'll Never Win Again. Before I get hate mails (but I trust Liverpool fans are rather civilised compared to other devilish fans), the above stories are not true. But what I do know is that Liverpool is creating an impact around the globe - by brainwashing the younger generation (sic). Don't play play. The picture on the right is the crest for a school (Gurukul Public School) in India while the logo on the left is from a kindergarten in Hong Kong . Don't be surprised if a new school in Kampung Boyan , Taiping could have a similar badge. This...