TMCnet News
Lost in a sea of grass(Malay Mail Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)DETAILS have emerged that may shed some light into the never-ending woes of the pitch at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil. While the consultant of the returfing project at Bukit Jalil claimed the woeful condition of the pitch was due to heavy usage, Mailsport have discovered a trial putting green in Johor Baru, designed to showcase and extol the virtues of marimo paspalum, is not exactly pitch perfect. Adding another twist to the issue is a poser from a turf contractor, Azmi Abdul Ghani, who questioned the originality of the grass at Bukit Jalil, and the claim from a turf agronomist, Mark Hooker, that a different turfgrass, Zoysia, would be more suited to the way the pitch at the national showpiece was reconstructed. "Seashore paspalum is a vigorous growing turf grass. "But on non-saline sites, our experience (through our ties with turf grass research organisations around the world) has shown us that it will almost invariably be invaded by other grasses early. "Recent studies in Thailand have shown this trend under non-saline conditions, with paspalum declining from 100 per cent cover to approximately 30 per cent cover only three years after planting in humid tropical but non-saline environment," said Hooker, who is attached to Sports Turf New Zealand (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd (a wholly owned subsidiary company by the New Zealand Sports Turf Institute - NZSTI). NZSTI, according to Hooker, have been involved in sports facility construction and consultancy for well over a decade in Malaysia. He was responding to Mailsport's report on the Stadium Board's decision to close the stadium for two weeks due to the poor condition of the pitch. Azmi, who is planting a football pitch at Pularek in Johor with seashore paspalum, doubted the originality of grass at Bukit Jalil developed by Zoysian (M) Sdn Bhd. "Based on my experience with seashore paspalum, there are two possibilities relating to the problem in Bukit Jalil. "One, it's not genuine seashore paspalum, two, poor turf management which could be due to over-watering and over-fertilisation. "Seashore paspalum thrives well in drought condition and requires less water and fertilisation. "It must be properly managed because it's prone to army worm damage. "If the turf at Bukit Jalil is paspalum, then the contractor or supplier must prove its authenticity by showing the authorities the necessary documents," said Azmi, who urged the new chairman of the Stadium Board, Datuk Seri Syed Razlan Syed Putra Jamalullail, to look into the matter. However, Hiroi Koichi, who is a director of Zoysian, and also the technical adviser to the contractor at Bukit Jalil, maintained the awful condition of the pitch at the National Stadium was due to heavy traffic, adding there was no certificate to verify its originality because the cultivar was developed locally since 1992. "Our company was given a permit for paspalum vaginatum (the scientific name for seashore paspalum) by the agriculture department," said Koichi. While admitting that the putting green at Daiman golf course was his work, Koichi blamed it on poor maintenance. "We planted the grass and it is maintained by the club. Grass is also like us humans, sometimes we get sick," said Koichi. |