iupm captain - universiti putra malaysiapsasir.upm.edu.my/4498/1/0704.pdfgroup. and the pint-sized...

iUPM captain"hopes for a win"Good record means there is hope for a final spot

Taking a shot: Syazwani urges her team mates to pull their weight tostrengthen their line-up.

By NG WEI LOONweiloon@thestar.com.ny

-"''I . HE l!niversiti Putra Malaysia(UPM)women's futsal team cap­tain Syazwani Shahudin is urg­

ing her team mates, comprisingemployees of the university, to pulltogether in th~ir bid to edge theircounterparts from other public insti­tutions of higher learning at a meetscheduled at the Universiti MalaysiaTerengganu from June 3 to 13.

The 22-year-old Syazwani said theyneeded to improve on their individualplaying abilities to strengthen the line­up and develop a balanced team.

"Initially, we faced an uphill task toconvince our colleagues to join theteam for our debut in the inter-univer­sity tournament hosted at our campuslast year.

"We' have achieved respectableresults in two recent tournaments andwe are committed to doing well.Although we have been playingtogether for less than a year, we aregelling well to establish good team­WDrk.But, we cannot only rely on oneor,two key players to put up a strongfight against the better sides," she~;Jid.

Early this month, UPM settled forthe third spot at a meet with a total of12 teams from other governmentagencies and semi-government bodiesin the fray in Langkawi.

UPM team manager Saheh Said saidthey were satisfied with the overallperformance as they only went down2-3 to the eventual champions BankSimpanan Nasional (BSN) in thegroup.

And the pint-sized Syazwani slottedthe winning goal for a narrow 1-0 vic­tory over a more fancied NationalSports Council (NSC)to advance to thesemi-finals.

However, their campaign came toan end when Employees ProvidentFund (EPF)denied them with a similar1-0 margin.

Considering that UPM were the los­ing semi-finalists at their previous twocompetitions, they are eyeing to booktheir place in the final at the upcom­ing assignment.

Saheh admitted they were wary ofthe threat coming from the formidableUniversiti Malaysia Perlis (Unimap) asthe northern side would be start41g offas the favourites with the services ofseveral national players in the squad.

Currently, UPMhave 10players agedbetween 20 and 24 going through thepaces two times a day as a build up to

the tournament."Each session goes on for two hours.

For the young squad, it will be a learn­ing curve for them to polish up ontheir passing, shooting and dribblingtechniques.

"We want them to be in top shapefor the physical challenges on thepitch.

"It has been a joy to build a teamfrom scratch and see them progress.We are hoping to field the team forother open tournaments in the future,"added Saheh.

Staying in shape: Saheh (in blue) keeping a watchfui eye on his charges.

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Stretching out: Goalkeeper Norazlin A. Aziz attempting to blocla shot from going into the goal.