Malaysian women upset Canada 3-2

THE Malaysian women’s hockey team upset Canada 3-2 in New Delhi last night, placing the pressure on the men to deliver against hosts India tonight.
Malaysia, ranked 22nd in the world, took a 3-0 lead before losing their grip to the world No 19 team late in the second half.
The toast of the day was Norbaini Hashim who scored a brace in the 18th and 56th minutes, while Norfaraha Hashim delivered the third in the 49th minute.
Diana Roemer 56th and Anna Kozniuk 59th scored Canada. Today, the women will meet world No 7 New Zealand.
As for the men, Jiwa Mohan is optimistic of a good opening match: “The players know the score, and are looking to win every match because the Commonwealth Games is part of our journey towards the Asian Games. The feeling in camp is that India can be beaten, and we will strive towards that.”
Jiwa, based in Australia now, also praised the security measures adopted by the hosts.
“The difference from previous Games is that in New Delhi, security is tops on the Indian Government’s list and I personally feel very safe.
“The team feeling is good as players are focusing and zooming into their task as the first game gets closer.
“All the players are aware, that a few players like Kelvinder Singh and Jivan (Mohan) have been rested in Kuala Lumpur so, consistency and improvement are the qualities they need to maintain as this point of time.”
WOMEN’S Hockey: RESULTS --Group A: South Africa 12 Trinidad & Tobago 0; India x Scotland x.
Group B: New Zealand 5 Wales 1; Canada 2 Malaysia 3.
TODAY -- Women’s Hockey: Group A: Australia v Trinidad & Tobago, South Africa v Scotland.
Group B: England v Wales, New Zealand v Malaysia.
TODAY -- Men’s Hockey: Group A: Pakistan v Scotland, India v Malaysia.
Group B: New Zealand v Trinidad & Tobago, Canada v South Africa.

Friendly: Canada 2 Malaysia 2 (Men)

HOT WORK: The New Zealand women's hockey team train at the National Stadium in New Delhi. LAWRENCE SMITH/Fairfax Media

We played two halves against Malaysia on the Stadium pitch, one 25 min. half and one 20 min. half.
We started off fairly well and had most of the play.
After earning a couple of penalty corners, Scott Tupper slotted one between the goalies legs to go up 1-0. We then had a few very good scoring opportunities which we could not put behind the keeper in the goal.
The play then went back and forth a bit before we cashed in on one of our opportunities as Philip Wright received the ball in front of the goalie and quickly got it up and over him into the top of the goal. We let them get back into the game early in the second half when they scored on a quick counter attack to cut the lead in half.
We held it together for the rest of the half until the final minutes when they were given a suspect penalty corner that they converted low stick side. All in all it was not a bad game for us but a very frustrating result that we should have never let get away.
We will learn from our mistakes though and be ready for our opening match against South Africa on Tuesday.

Our post match routine of cooling down and ice bathing was quickly executed before we were off to the Village again for some dinner. As most of us are now adjusted to the jet lag, we will all be hanging out for a couple of hours before we head to bed and prepare for the day to come.

Dave Jameson

Field Hockey Canada media release