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Women Hockey (Olympic hockey qualifying) - Malaysia get off to a losing start

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia got off to a bad start in the Olympic hockey qualifying tournament in Kakamigahara, Japan, yesterday.

The national women’s team, who have yet to feature in the Olympics, were outplayed 4-0 by Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan skipper Khatira Aliyeva scored a brace (17th and 31st) while the other goals were netted by Myungsoon Mammadova (45th) and Yuliya Muradi (56th).

National coach Mohd Nasihin Nubli said in a telephone interview that they lost because of defensive errors.
“The chilly conditions also affected the team as the players are not used to such cold weather,” said Nasihin, a former international.

“We started well by creating a few chances but the Azerbaijan goalkeeper (Viktoriya Shahbazova) did well to stop all our attempts.

“Some of our players also suffered minor injuries in the match. However, we will try to rectify the mistakes and put up a better show against Japan on Friday,” said Nasihin.

In other matches, topseeds Japan trounced Austria 7-0 while Belarus defeated Chile 3-1.



THE STAR

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