Eyebrows were raised on the opening day of the 2020 Sepak Takraw League (STL) Division 1 season when the Terengganu Turtles fielded assistant coach Hamikhairi Roslan against the MASUM-UPM Knights on Tuesday.
The East Coast side only had four players at the Titiwangsa Stadium after striker Fadzly Roslan and tekong Zulkifli Abdul Razak went AWOL.
Their absence proved critical as Terengganu went down 14-21, 11-21 to the Knights in the opening Group A match, which dealt a huge blow to their hopes of gaining promotion and returning to the Premier.
Hamikhairi, who was also the absent Fadzly's brother, last played competitively 10 years ago and admitted it was not easy returning to action.
"Due to several issues, I had to play. I was worried because I had not played competitively like this for a while despite the lack of crowd, but I will take this situation as an experience," he said.
Meanwhile, Terengganu head coach Putra Abdul Ghani was unhappy for his team to be short-handed for the game.
"When the two players were not available, we had to take on the match with the players available, but they were affected mentally and in terms of motivation due to the last-minute responsibility.
"The absence of the two players put a damper on our programme," he lamented.
The Turtles next face the Perlis Vipers, who lost to the Melaka Titans 15-21, 12-21 on the same day.
TUESDAY'S RESULTS
MASUM-UPM Knights beat Terengganu Turtles 21-14, 21-11
Putrajaya Cyborg beat Bomba Fighters 21-10, 21-18
PSM Mavericks beat Kedah Eagles 21-11, 21-8
Melaka Titans beat Perlis Vipers 21-15, 21-12
Seng Foo Lee
Wed Sep 09 2020
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