Kuala Lumpur, Oct 10: A week after firing him for getting patchy results, the Malaysian government has rehired national field hockey coach Paul Lissek following protests from sport officials and quit threats from top players. The government-appointed National Sports Council announced it would reinstate Lissek, a German touted as one of the sport's top coaches who was headhunted by Malaysia three years ago, after a special meeting with the Malaysian Hockey Federation late yesterday.

The council last week ordered Lissek to be removed from the top job after a string of poor results for the team, capped by Malaysia failing to reach the semifinals in last month's six-nation Asian Cup following a humiliating defeat by minnows Japan. The hockey federation and the team backed up their coach, with top players including Captain Kuhan Shanmuganathan threatening to quit if Lissek was not reinstated.

Approaches to several possible replacement coaches had proved unsuccessful.

Federation officials, led by President Sultan Azlan Shah also ruler of the Northern Perak state who enjoys considerable influence in the sports fraternity urged the council at Wednesday's meeting to reinstate Lissek, at least until Olympic qualifiers due in March. The council agreed.

Bureau Report