China Tour: Malaysia 2 China Juniors 2

THE Malaysian women's hockey team progressed another step when they held the China national juniors 2-2 in a fourth friendly at Changzhou Saturday.
  This came at the back of 4-0, 2-1 and 2-1 defeats, as coach K. Dharmaraj prepares his charges for the World League Round Two which Malaysia will host at the end of the year.
  China took the lead off a third minute penalty corner but Siti Shahida equalsied a minute later off a field attempt.
  China again took the lead in the 10th minute, and this time Siti Noor Amarina scored a penalty corner attempt in the 19th minute and the score stool until the end.
  Malaysia will play their fifth and final friendly today.
  "This was our best game of the series, and we missed out on a win when a beautifully crafted Siti Rahmah goal was disallowed by the match umpire.
  "We were very competitive in this match and in my opinion, we played a really good game and controlled the pitch for large spells of the match.
  "The players are beginning to believe in their abilities, shoulder-to-shoulder against what was, a only few days ago, a much superior team.
  "We had one goal disallowed, which probably would have given us the win. More importantly, the goal (a well-timed deflection) came off a brilliant reverse stick pass. We are improving, but there is still much to be done," said Dharmaraj.
  Meanwhile, Negeri Sembilan Hockey Association will conduct Open trials this Sunday from 4pm-7pm at the Seremban II Hockey Stadium to select players for the Sarawak Malaysia Games.
  Players who are below 21-years-old are encourage to attend this trials. For more information, call coach S. Chandran at 016-3157113  or NSHA secetary P. Tamilselvam at 019-3650303.