TERENGGANU qualified for the Division One semi-finals in the Inspector General of Police Cup (IGP Cup) Hockey Tournament at the Wisma Belia Hockey Stadium in Kuantan Saturday.
The east coach state defeated Briged Tenggara 2-1 and Negri Sembilan 3-0 respectively to lead Group B table standings with six points.
In a morning match against Briged Tenggara, Azrul Hisham fired Terengganu into the lead with a 29th minute field goal but Ahmad Nazri Senin restored parity for Briged Tenggara via a penalty corner conversion in the 39th minute. Terengganu, however, upped the ante in the 44th minute for the winning goal from a penalty corner conversion by Muhammad Ashraf Abdul Halim.
They returned in the evening to pulverise Negeri Sembilan 3-0. Azrul Hisham Zahari scored a brace (40th and 46th minutes) while Muhammad Ashraf added the third goal.
Negeri had earlier defeated Perlis 2-1 with field goals from M. Ravinder (4th minute) and Mohd Hafiz Pahror Radzi (24th). Perlis replied through Ruslang Nurain in the 34th minute.
Underdogs Melaka turned the opportunities into goals by carving a 2-0 win over Perlis in a Group B match. It was Perlis second straight defeat in the opening day of the tournament.
“We have only been training together for the last 10 days. It was a good win to earn three points but there is much room for improvement,” said Melaka team manager ASP K. Mahadevan.
“Our penalty corner conversions are at a low rate and I have instructed the coach to improve this area before we go into the remaining matches. We had six penalty corners but converted one,” he added.
Melaka scored through Suher Romzie Jamaluddin (26th minute) and Shamsul Arif Sulaiman (40th minute).
Sabah also earned a brilliant 3-1 victory over Kelantan in a Group A match. The East Malaysian state shifted into top gear after making a return to the tournament following a lapse of 22 years. Sabah last competed in the IGP Cup way back in 1996.
“We are competing once again after 22 years and expectations are certainly high on us. However, I am happy with our performance today and we hope to continue the momentum,” said team manager Supt Shahrul Amir. “We aim to qualify for the semi-finals. That would be a great achievement.”
Mohd Firdaus Abdul Ghani (20thth minute), Samsualan Samsudin (25th minute) and Rozaimay Amir (33rd minute) scored for Sabah via field goals. Kelantan replied through a penalty corner conversion by Mohd Hakimi Muhammad in the 42nd minute.’
In another Group A match, Kedah enhanced their chances of qualifying for the last four with a 2-1 win over Briged Utara.
Nine teams are competing in Division One of the IGP Cup.
Results – Division 1 Group A - Group A: Sabah 3 Kelantan 1; Kedah 2 Briged Utara 1; Group B: Negeri Sembilan 2 Perlis 1; Terengganu 2 Briged Tenggara 1; Melaka 2 Perlis 0; Terengganu 3 Negeri Sembilan 0.
GROUP A
P W D L F A Pts
SABAH 1 1 0 0 3 1 3
KEDAH 1 1 0 0 2 1 3
BRIGED UTARA 1 0 0 1 1 2 0
KELANTAN 1 0 0 1 1 3 0
GROUP B
P W D L F A PTS
TERENGGANU 2 2 0 0 5 1 6
MELAKA 1 1 0 0 2 0 3
N. SEMBILAN 2 1 0 1 2 4 3
BRIGED TENGGARA 1 0 0 1 1 2 0
PERLIS 2 0 0 2 1 4 0
