June 28, 2018 @ 5:08pm
KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian women's hockey team will play Singapore Friday as a warm-up before going for gold in the World Series Open at the Seng Kang Stadium.
Coach K. Dharmaraj's charges have already made the final with the Singapore match in hand, while Kazakhstan and Thailand will play for the other slot.
And it does not matter which team follows Malaysia into the final, as Malaysia are the best bets to win gold in the Open.
"We have already qualified for the final and will wait for the outcome of the Kazakhstan-Thailand match (Friday) to know who our opponents are.
"It doesn't matter who we play in the final, as the target is still to win gold," said Dharmaraj.
The finalists qualify to play in the next round, yet to be decided where and when, and have a chance to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
"Mission one is completed. We qualified for the next round witha match in hand. The second mission will be to realise our top ranking here, by winning gold," said Dharmaran.
At 22 in the World, Malaysia are higer ranked than Thailand (28th) and Kazakstan (34th).
And Malaysia did thrash Kazakstan 8-1 and Thailand 4-0 in earlier encounters in this tournament.
As for Singapore, Malaysia beat them 8-0 in the Asia Cup last year.
From all teams competing in this round, a minimum of 15 teams will qualify for one of three separate Hockey Series Finals.
Each of the Hockey Series Finals will have eight teams playing in them, and will take place throughout the world, with berths into the Olympic qualification events up for grabs.
STANDINGS
P W D L GD Pts
Malaysia 4 4 0 0 39 12
Thailand 4 3 0 1 17 9
Kazakhstan 4 3 0 1 7 9
Singapore 4 1 1 2 3 4
Hong Kong 4 0 1 3 -17 1
Indonesia 4 0 0 4 -49 0
