THE MALAYSIAN women's team must brace themselves from a double digit humiliation when they face China in the Junior Asia Cup at the Wujin National Hockey Stadium in Changzhou Monday.
China and India are the early favourites to qualify for the Junior World Cup as, three spots are on on offer in this tournament.
And unfortunately, both the giants are in Group A with Malaysia. India opened their campaign by whipping North Korea 13-0, and Singapore 12-0 Sunday.
Coach Lailin Abu Hassan is well aware that China would be an uphill battle.
"The 2-0 win against Singapore (on Saturday), despite providing us valuable three points, left us in an extremely undesirable position as our captain, (Surizan Awang Noh) picked up an injury on her left knee.
"There is a high chance that the skipper, along with Nurain Hidayah who pulled a hamstring muscle in the same match, will not be fielded for our match against China", said Lailin.
Surizan was injured after she collided with a Singapore player whilst jostling for a loose ball.
Against Singapore, Malaysia had 10 penalty corners but only managed to only convert two off direct hits.
"We lacked ideas against a team that practically camped in their own semi-cirle. Our penalty corner conversion rate need to be much better against China, because we might not win as many as we did in the first game.
"Also, there is an imperative need for midfield creativity. We will analyse our game, as well as the opponents and strive for a better performance against one of the region's hockey powerhouse," Lailin added.
Group A: China, India, Malaysia, Singapore, North Korea.
Group B: South Korea, Japan, Thailand, Taiwan.
MONDAY: Malaysia v China; Wednesday: Malaysia v North Korea; Thursday: Malaysia v India.
MALAYSIA HOCKEY LEAGUE -- RESULTS: Division One Group A: TNB Thunderbolts 4 MSN-THT 0, MSSP-YP-SSP 3 Masum-USM 5.
Group B: Politeknik x UniKL Young Guns x, SSTMI 2 UiTM 3, Nur Insafi 1 ATM Airod 3.
Women's Group A: The Cops x ATM Pernama x.
Sunday, September 6, 2015
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