Malaysia second in Hamburg Masters

MALAYSIA played their hearts out and hammered Belgium 6-2 to finish second in the Hamburg Masters International Invitational in Germany yesterday.
Malaysia ended with five points from three matches, as they played to a 1-1 draw with Olympic champions and World No 1 Germany, and another 2-2 draw against Pakistan.
In another match, Germany hammered Pakistan 6-1 to become the champions, while Malaysia finished second in the Masters.
Amin Rahim opened accounts for Malaysia in the fifth minute off a penalty corner attempt, and four minutes later, Kelvinder Singh made it 2-0 with a field attempt.
Malaysia relied on counter-attacks the entire match, and the goals came easy off Ismail Abu (31st), Sallehin Ghani (43rd), Amin (51st) and Azlan Misron (51st).
The match was played in heavy rain, and Belgium got their consolations through Gauthier Boccart (37th) and Alex Depeauw (54th).
“We could have hit 10 goals past Belgium as we practically camped in their semi-circle. But the rain saw my players miss many sitters.
“Also, Ismail (Abu) and (Mohaned) Razie were both in the sin-bin when Belgium scored their first goal, but we replied with the fifth and sixth goals with only nine players on the pitch.
“It was a good performance from my team, as we never lost a match in this tournament, and they showed their true capabilities when playing against higher ranked teams,” said coach Sarjit Singh via a telephone interview.
Malaysia are ranked 15th, Belgium 10th, Pakistan eighth, and Germany No 1 in the World.
After the national team returns, it will disband for the Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) which starts on Oct 17. Twelve players will turn out for Ernst and Young, while six for Tenaga Nasional.



FINAL STANDINGS

P W D L F A Pts
GERMANY 3 2 1 0 10 3 7
MALAYSIA 3 1 2 0 9 5 5
PAKISTAN 3 1 1 1 9 11 4
BELGIUM 3 0 0 3 6 15 0