NEW LOOK TAN SRI HAMIDIN CHALLENGE TROPHY 9s TOURNEY
The Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin / X Mail FC Veterans 9s football tournament onto its fourth edition, gets a eleventh hour name change to Tan Sri Hamidin Mohd Amin Challenge Trophy tournament.
The change came about when on Sept 7, Datuk Hamidin, the FA of Malaysia president, was conferred the title of Darjah Panglima Setia Mahkota ((P.S.M) which carries the title of Tan Sri, by His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim, King of Malaysia, in conjunction with his official birthday.
This year, the tournament will be held on Sept 14 (Saturday), at the Melwood Arena in Sungei Buluh, following the inaugural tournament in Kuala Kubu Bharu in 2021, followed by in Taiping and last year in Ipoh.
The Tan Sri Hamidin Challenge trophies donated by the FA of Malaysia president, also saw the introduction of a Under-16 tournament with another Challenge Trophy last year.
Last year saw the participation of a foreign team for the first time in the Veteran’s category - Bacolod United - from the Philippines, but unfortunately they could not come this year.
Organised by the Kuala Lumpur XMail Veterans FC, the tournament will see eight invited teams in each category, compete in the one-day tournament, at the beautiful and scenic Melwood Arena surrounded by hills and forest.
The tournament will kick off on Sept 14 (Saturday) at 8am at the Melwood Arena with a march past of participating teams and the singing of the national anthem in conjunction of the Malaysia day on Sept 15.
Tomorrow (Sept 13), the team managers meeting, draw and welcome dinner will be held at the Royal Selangor Club Sports Annex at Bukit Kiara.
The teams competing in the veteran category for players 45 years and above are, host XMail FC Veterans, Melwood Boys FC, Club Aman, UM Legends, Wawasan 2020, Rain FC, MCFA and Sportwriters Association of Malaysia (SAM) and the Under-16 teams are My World Hunters FA Academy (Penang), Black Leopard FA (KL), CIMB YFA (KL), DTFT (Selangor), KR7 FC (Malacca), Destiny FDC (Selangor) ,Wira MAS Ipoh (Perak), PD U Rangers FC (Port Dickson, NS).
The teams will be divided into two Groups in each category at the draw at the team managers meeting and will play a one round robin in their respective Groups, with the top two teams qualifying for the semifinals.
The third placed and fourth team in the Groups will play in the Losers Pool semifinals.
There is prize-money for the Veterans where the champion will receive RM2,500.00, runners-up RM1,500.00, the third placed RM750.00 and fourth placed RM400.00 and medals.
For the Losers Pool final, the winner will receive RM400.00 and the loser RM300.00 and medals.
For the Under 16 category, there will also prize money offered this year.
The the champion will receive RM800.00, runners-up RM500.00, the third placed RM300.00 and fourth placed RM200.00 and medals.
For the Losers Pool final, the winner will receive RM200.00 and the loser RM100.00 and medals.
Besides, the Challenge Trophies, winners will be given take away trophies and medals.
There will be also individual awards for the Best Goalkeeper, Top Scorer of the Tournament, Man-of-the match in the Final and a Fair Play Trophy for a team for both categories.
The top scorer of each category will also receive a return air-ticket courtesy of Trans Nusa.
The inaugural champions of the veteran tournament was Huaren FC, followed by defending XMail FC and last year Navashini Ipoh.
The inaugural Under-16 champion was Ipoh City Council.
Sadly, both teams are not defending their titles.
The tournament was made possible with personal contribution of supporters and well wishers of the XMail team and several regular sponsors who are friends of XMail FC.
Among the sponsors include ShekhinahPR who were largely instrumental in the tournament being organised this year , Ampersand Advisory, 100 Plus/ Borneo Springs, Milo, Trans Nusa, Flash Sukan, HA Megah Technology Sdn Bhd, BNT Recycle Sdn Bhd and KR Travels.
Interesting battles are on card in both categories, as teams have submitted formidable teams.
Both categories are expected to see keen battle for honours.
The veteran category see several ex-state, ex-national juniors and ex-international competing.
Among them include K. Nathankumar, Paidiya Rao, S. Saravanan, Lee Ban Tat, A. Muralitharan, S. Jayaprakash, M. Chandran, G. Muthu and Asmawi Bakiri to name a few.
The tournament moves every year to a new venue to bring the game to all States including Sabah and Sarawak in the near future.
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