Malaysian women march on...

THE Malaysian women beat Kazakstan 3-1 to keep their  hopes alive in Round Two of the World Hockey League in New  Delhi, India, yesterday.
    Malaysia had started the tournament by beating Russia  also 3-1, but then went down to favourites India 3-0.
   The win yesterday was made possible with goals from Siti  Noor Amarina Ruhani (fourth), Norhasikin Halim (27th) and  Nor Azlin Sumantri (33rd). The Kazahstan goal was scored  by Verain Domashneva  the 68th minute.
    Today, Nasihin Nubli’s charges play Fiji, where they are  almost assured of three points, making the match against  Japan on Sunday the decider for Malaysia.
    Japan showed their weak side when they had to come from  behind to hold Russia 1-1, and narrowly winning the penalty  shoot-out 3-2.
   The World League is a unique tournament where there  must be a winner in every match, and a draw will see a  penalty shoot-out coming into place.
   India and Japan play today, and if there is an upset of the  hosts, then the Malaysia’s chances of becoming one of the two  teams to advance to the semi-finals much more brighter.
     “Out initial goal was to go for three points by scoring early  and then pressing for more goal, but after coring all three in  the first half, my players kept on missing sitters,” lamented  Nasihin.
    He was upset with some of his regulars for being off form,  but the bench saved Malaysia in the second half.
   “I am upset with few our main players for not playing to the  mark but our bench players, especially Norizaidah (Ibrahim)  and Fatin (Shafika) played really well to cover them.
   “Against Fiji, we need to score as many as possible to be in  the right frame of mind before we complete the fixtures  against Japan,” said Nasihin.