Nair, 50, strikes a blow for the old and bold

Chandran Nair is too old to get a call-up from new SAR coach Kevin Knapp, but the former Hong Kong national team manager showed he can still make his presence felt on the field when he provided the coup de grace as Shaheen humbled Asahi Valley 4-1 in the South China Premier League yesterday.

With Knapp an interested onlooker - the new SAR coach was trawling for talent outside the pool of players provided by the Hong Kong Hockey Association - Shaheen turned on the style with characteristic individual flair to post their fifth win for the season.

Nair, probably the oldest player in the Premier League (his teammates revealed he had already celebrated his 50th birthday), provided the finishing touches to a comfortable victory by completing a lovely piece of stick play from Asif Ali who beat a couple of defenders before finding Nair unmarked inside the circle and with only Valley goalkeeper Hilton Munro to beat.

If Nair provided the final flourish, the broad strokes that filled out Shaheen's illuminating canvas came from striker Asghar Ali, who scored a brace, and man-of-the-match Alfonso Cordeiro who was a constant thorn in Valley's side in both attack and in defence.

Undoubtedly Knapp already has both Asghar Ali and Cordeiro in his national set-up. Yesterday, they underlined their status as leading cogs in Hong Kong's campaign for glory at this summer's East Asian Games in Macau.

'I have got a pool of players given to me by the association and at this point I'm happy to accept it as their knowledge is better than mine.

'But I will be watching every Premier League game in the next few days as I want to look at the players in a game situation and identify those who are not in the squad,' said Knapp beforehand.