Sara to make good (The Malay Mail)

place in the national team after missing the boat the first time.
 The son of a kacang putih seller is determined to work for a place in
the Malaysian team to the Dunhill Cup starting next week in Vietnam.
 After the initial disappointment ob being excluded from the national
team for the recent playing tour of UAE, Saravanan has pledged to put in
extra effort to impress coach Abdul Rahman Ibrahim.
 For the Ipoh-born Saravanan, who turned 21 on Jan 11, a ticket to
Vietnam will indeed be a great, albeit, belated birthday present.
 He said: "I am grateful to coach Abdul Rahman for considering me for the
Dunhill Cup after my withdrawal from the team earlier this month because
of food poisoning.
 "Missing out on the Dubai trip could have been very costly because the
coach was finalising his squad for Vietnam during the tour.
 "I am lucky to be given a second chance. In fact, I was told by the
coach to be prepared for a recall on his return from Dubai.
 "I hope to make the final squad this time," said Saravanan.
 Saravanan, who has had enough disappointments since being dropped from
the Olympic 2000 squad late last year, said: "Coach Hatem (Souissi) had
his reasons for doing so and I have to respect it.
 "The national call-up provided some consolation and I want to make it
meaningful by making the final squad," said Saravanan.
 The 23-strong national training squad will be cut to 18 on Tuesday
before they leave for Ho Chi Minh City the next day.
 Besides Saravanan, the others eyeing places upfront are G. Shanmugam,
Yusri Che Lah, Mohamad Nor Derus and Zami Mohamad Noor.
 Saravanan, who featured in the World Youth championship in 1997, hopes a
credible performance with the national team would earn him a recall for
the Olympics qualifers in June.
 The seventh in a family of eight boys and a girl, Saravanan turned out
for the Perak Youth team in the 1995 Coke Cup before getting selected for
the Olympic 2000 squad.
 Though his 58-year-old father, Velu, has never played soccer, he
produced three footballing sons.
 Saravanan's eldest brother, Arumugam was a Negri Sembilan midfielder in
1995 and 1996 while his younger brother, Karannan, is Perak Under-18
midfielder.
 "I want to make my father proud by making it to the national senior
team," said Saravanan, who played a major role in Perak winning the
Malaysia Cup this season.
                               (END)