Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Korea down, two more to go..
MALAYSIA finally played top-flight hockey to beat South Korea 4-2 in the Sultan of Johor Cup at the Taman Daya Stadium yesterday.
After losing 2-1 to Australia and pulling off a 1-1 draw against New Zealand, Malaysia nailed three points to keep their hopes of playing in the final alive.
Even there absence of regular goalkeeper Hafizuddin Othman, hospitalised for a kidney ailment, failed to stop a determined Malaysian side.
"Hafizuddin was diagnosed with water in his kidneys, and is out of the tournament but his replacement Hazrul (Faiz) did well against the Koreans. Tomorrow (today) we have another big match against Pakistan and recovery could play a pivotal role in that encounter," said Malaysian coach K. Dharmaraj.
And the fans did not have to wait for long, as Noor Faeez Ibrahim nailed the lead off the first penalty corner itself in the third minute.
After that, the forwardline of Fitri Saari, Syamim Yusof and Amir Farid all came close to increasing the scoreline, but missed their chances.
The Koreans drew level in the 28th minute when regular penalty corner flicker Yang Ji Hun played the ball to You Seung Ju who tucked it past Hazrul.
But the young Malaysians kept up the pressure and in the very next minute, re-gained the lead off Syamim Yusof who put the finishing touches to a darting run on the left by Ramadan Rosli.
After the breather, Korea were the moire aggressive side and forced penalty corners in the 37th and 39th minutes, but on both occasions Malaysian keeper Faiz stood tall.
And in the 40th minute, against the run of play, Malaysia added a third when Korean keeper Lee Se Young made a mess of a save and Syamim got his brace.
Korea drew closer when Seung Ju scored in the 43rd minute to make the score 2-3.
But Nor Hizzat Sumantri doused the fight-back in the 67th minute for a well deserved win.
Australia remained the only unbeaten team when they whipped New Zealand 6-1 for their third win in as many matches. The Aussies started slowly by beating Malaysia 2-1 and India 3-2 in the earlier matches.
A hat-trick by Flynn Ogilive and a brace by Jack Wallace and the sixth by Josh Walters gave the them a comfortable win and top spot on the standings.
TUESDAY: New Zealand 1 Australia 6, Malaysia 4 South Korea 2, Pakistan 1 India 5.
WEDNESDAY: South Korea v Australia (4pm), India v New Zealand (6pm), Pakistan v Malaysia (8pm).
FRIDAY: Australia v Pakistan (4pm), New Zealand v South Korea (6pm), India v Malaysia (8pm).
P W D L F A Pts
AUSTRALIA 3 3 0 0 11 4 9
S KOREA 3 2 0 1 10 9 6
N ZEALAND 3 1 1 1 3 7 4
MALAYSIA 3 1 1 1 6 5 4
INDIA 3 1 0 2 11 10 3
PAKISTAN 3 0 0 3 2 8 0
After losing 2-1 to Australia and pulling off a 1-1 draw against New Zealand, Malaysia nailed three points to keep their hopes of playing in the final alive.
Even there absence of regular goalkeeper Hafizuddin Othman, hospitalised for a kidney ailment, failed to stop a determined Malaysian side.
"Hafizuddin was diagnosed with water in his kidneys, and is out of the tournament but his replacement Hazrul (Faiz) did well against the Koreans. Tomorrow (today) we have another big match against Pakistan and recovery could play a pivotal role in that encounter," said Malaysian coach K. Dharmaraj.
And the fans did not have to wait for long, as Noor Faeez Ibrahim nailed the lead off the first penalty corner itself in the third minute.
After that, the forwardline of Fitri Saari, Syamim Yusof and Amir Farid all came close to increasing the scoreline, but missed their chances.
The Koreans drew level in the 28th minute when regular penalty corner flicker Yang Ji Hun played the ball to You Seung Ju who tucked it past Hazrul.
But the young Malaysians kept up the pressure and in the very next minute, re-gained the lead off Syamim Yusof who put the finishing touches to a darting run on the left by Ramadan Rosli.
After the breather, Korea were the moire aggressive side and forced penalty corners in the 37th and 39th minutes, but on both occasions Malaysian keeper Faiz stood tall.
And in the 40th minute, against the run of play, Malaysia added a third when Korean keeper Lee Se Young made a mess of a save and Syamim got his brace.
Korea drew closer when Seung Ju scored in the 43rd minute to make the score 2-3.
But Nor Hizzat Sumantri doused the fight-back in the 67th minute for a well deserved win.
Australia remained the only unbeaten team when they whipped New Zealand 6-1 for their third win in as many matches. The Aussies started slowly by beating Malaysia 2-1 and India 3-2 in the earlier matches.
A hat-trick by Flynn Ogilive and a brace by Jack Wallace and the sixth by Josh Walters gave the them a comfortable win and top spot on the standings.
TUESDAY: New Zealand 1 Australia 6, Malaysia 4 South Korea 2, Pakistan 1 India 5.
WEDNESDAY: South Korea v Australia (4pm), India v New Zealand (6pm), Pakistan v Malaysia (8pm).
FRIDAY: Australia v Pakistan (4pm), New Zealand v South Korea (6pm), India v Malaysia (8pm).
P W D L F A Pts
AUSTRALIA 3 3 0 0 11 4 9
S KOREA 3 2 0 1 10 9 6
N ZEALAND 3 1 1 1 3 7 4
MALAYSIA 3 1 1 1 6 5 4
INDIA 3 1 0 2 11 10 3
PAKISTAN 3 0 0 3 2 8 0
Asian battles begin
IT was a tale of missed chances for the National Juniors in the two Sultan of Johor Cup matches they have played to date and they can't afford any more bungles in their next three ties.
Today, Malaysia will start their Asian campaign against South Korea at the Taman Daya Stadium in Johor Baru, with matches against Pakistan and India to follow.
National Juniors coach K. Dharmaraj has said that his charges can't afford to lose to Asian teams as they will be meeting them again in the Junior Asia Cup in Malacca next year, which also doubles up as a Junior World Cup Qualifier.
However, Dharmaraj's players have shown they are masters of the "near misses" thus far in matches against Australia (2-1) and New Zealand (1-1).
"We have had our fair share of chances and misses, but Australia are the favourites here and a 2-1 score against them is not too bad actually," said team manager Mirnawan Nawawi.
And now, according to Mirnawan, the target is to win the remaining three matches and play in the final.
"Playing in the final is still within our reach but we need to win against Korea, India and Pakistan to achieve it," said Minawan.
"It would also be a good boost to beat the three teams ahead of the Junior Asia Cup where we will meet them again for a shot at the Junior World Cup."
Korea are no pushovers, as they came back from trailing India by four goals to win 6-4, and then beat Pakistan 2-1 for maximum points.
Today, Malaysia will start their Asian campaign against South Korea at the Taman Daya Stadium in Johor Baru, with matches against Pakistan and India to follow.
National Juniors coach K. Dharmaraj has said that his charges can't afford to lose to Asian teams as they will be meeting them again in the Junior Asia Cup in Malacca next year, which also doubles up as a Junior World Cup Qualifier.
However, Dharmaraj's players have shown they are masters of the "near misses" thus far in matches against Australia (2-1) and New Zealand (1-1).
"We have had our fair share of chances and misses, but Australia are the favourites here and a 2-1 score against them is not too bad actually," said team manager Mirnawan Nawawi.
And now, according to Mirnawan, the target is to win the remaining three matches and play in the final.
"Playing in the final is still within our reach but we need to win against Korea, India and Pakistan to achieve it," said Minawan.
"It would also be a good boost to beat the three teams ahead of the Junior Asia Cup where we will meet them again for a shot at the Junior World Cup."
Korea are no pushovers, as they came back from trailing India by four goals to win 6-4, and then beat Pakistan 2-1 for maximum points.
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