Skip to main content

Malaysia turn on style to win World Hockey League final

The Malaysia hockey team celebrate after beating Poland in the final of the World Hockey League Round Two tournament in Singapore on Sunday. - BERNAMA
The Malaysia hockey team celebrate after beating Poland in the final of the World Hockey League Round Two tournament in Singapore on Sunday. - BERNAMA
 
SINGAPORE: Malaysia turned on the style when it mattered most, hammering Poland 8-0 to win the World Hockey League Second Round at the Sengkang Hockey Stadium.
It was Malaysia’s first International Hockey Federation (FIH) tournament win since winning a five-nation meet in Paris in 2010.

Malaysia brought their A game to Sunday’s final after a lacklustre semi-final victory over Japan, which needed a penalty shootout to break a 1-1 deadlock in regulation time - and it was certainly value for money to the 3,000 fans in attendance.

Skipper Mohd Razie Abdul Rahim was the star of the show, scoring a hat-trick in the seventh, 21st and 59th minutes.

Forward Faizal Saari added a brace in the third and 33rd minutes. Nabil Fiqri Mohd Noor (42nd), Tengku Ahmad Tajudin (48th) and Mohd Haziq Samsul (54th) contributed the other goals.
Faizal ended the tournament as the top scorer with 12 goals.

Malaysia, the top ranked side in the tournament at world No. 12, played like men possessed from the get-go.
Mohd Firhan Ashaari had a golden opportunity to give Malaysia the lead in the very first minute, but his hit from the top of the semi-circle just went inches wide.

Malaysia did not have to wait long as Faizal fired past goalkeeper Arkadiusz Matuszak to give Malaysia the lead off their first penalty corner in the third minute.

And four minutes later, defender Razie doubled the score off a low flick from Malaysia’s third penalty corner.

Malaysia kept up the pressure and increased the lead to 3-0 in the 21st minute. Razie was on target again from another penalty corner.

Malaysia continued to surge forward and they made it 4-0 through Faizal in the 33rd minute.
Malaysia kept up the pressure to score another four goals in the third and fourth quarters.
Poland earned five penalty corners in the last two quarters but goalkeeper S. Kumar did well to stop all the attempts.

Malaysian team manager Datuk Nur Azmi Ahmad was delighted with his players’ commitment and performance.
“Our players played their hearts out and totally dominated the match. I was confident of a win but never expected by such a big margin.

“Our strategy of going for early goals paid off well and it put a lot of pressure on our opponents,” said Nur Azmi.

“It is really nice to win the tournament to qualify for the World League Semi-Finals in Belgium in June.

“Our mission now is to do well in Belgium and qualify for next year’s Olympics. We have not featured in the Olympics since Sydney in 2000,” added Nur Azmi.

Poland and third-placed Japan also qualified for the World League Semi-Finals.



 by Aftar Singh - The Star

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rajagobal Let Off The Hook

PETALING JAYA, April 24 (Bernama) -- National head coach Datuk K. Rajagobal was let off the hook by the Football Association of Malaysia's (FAM) Disciplinary Committee after finding no evidence that he had violated FAM's Article 88, as claimed. FAM Disciplinary Committee chairman Datuk Taufik Abdul Razak said the committee had decided not to charge Rajagobal after carefully analysing the video of the post-match press conference by the 56-year-old coach. "After listening to the recording of the post-match press conference, we decided to drop the charge against Rajagopal as he did not make such a statement. "Maybe his (Rajagobal) assessment and comments of the match was misconstrued by the media. There was no mention of the FAM policy throughout his comments," said Taufik after emerging from a three-hour Disciplinary Committee meeting at Wisma FAM in Kelana Jaya, here, Wednesday. Rajagobal who does not mince his words when asked to com...
4 comments
Read more

Atlet Tempuhi Empat Kejohanan Besar Sebelum Olimpik Rio 2016

KUALA LUMPUR, 31 Mei (Bernama) -- Empat temasya sukan penting yang dijadual berlangsung mulai Disember ini hingga 2015 menjadi medan persiapan atlet negara sebelum menghadapi cabaran Sukan Olimpik 2016 di Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, kata Menteri Belia dan Sukan, Khairy Jamaluddin Jumaati. Kejohanan berkenaan ialah Sukan SEA di Myanmar pada Disember, Sukan Asia 2014 di Incheon, Korea Selatan, Sukan Komanwel 2014 di Glasgow, Scotland dan Sukan SEA 2015 di Singapura. Bercakap kepada pemberita selepas melawat Majlis Sukan Negara (MSN) di Bukit Jalil di sini, Khairy berkata kesemua temasya sukan itu dilihat amat penting dalam memastikan impian negara untuk membawa pulang pingat emas Olimpik pertama menjadi kenyataan. "Kita di Kementerian Belia dan Sukan (KBS) mahupun MSN akan memastikan semua atlet mendapat bantuan sewajarnya dalam melakukan persiapan ke arah membawa pulang pingat emas pertama negara di Rio de Janeiro, Brazil nanti," katanya. Dalam perkemb...
6 comments
Read more

Ex-coach's jail sentence cut to a year

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal yesterday sentenced former athletics coach C. Ramanathan to 12 months' jail for molesting two junior athletes 19 years ago. A three-man bench led by Datuk Mohd Hishamudin Mohd Yunus unanimously dismissed Ramanathan's appeal against conviction, but varied the jail sentence of four years to a year, which was to run concurrently. Following yesterday's ruling, Ramanathan, 75, a former teacher, walked out a free man as he had served 10 months in Kajang Prison. Convicts get one-third remission for good behaviour while in prison. However, he will lose his pension. Hishamudin, who sat with Datuk Abdul Wahab Patail and Datuk Linton Albert, said the court found no merit to overturn the conviction. "However, in reducing the sentence, we considered Ramanathan's age and the long years the appeal has taken." Deputy public prosecutor Awang Armadajaya Awang Mahmud submitted that then High Court judge Tan Sri Abdull Hamid E...
2 comments
Read more