June 30, 2018 @ 5:05pm
KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian women's hockey team are tipped to win gold in the Hockey Series Open at the Seng Kang Stadium Sunday.
Only, how many goals they will score against Thailand remains to be jotted down.
Ranked 22nd and highest in the tournament, Malaysia have yet to lose to the world No 28 Thailand in the last 10 encounters.
In fact, in 10 matches, Thailand has only managed to score two goals against Malaysia. The most recent was at the Hockey Series pool match, where coach K. Dharmaraj's charges won 4-0.
"I believe we will prove our No 1 ranking in this tournament right. In the final, we just need to cut off Thailand's counter attacks, and half the battle would be won," said Dharmaraj.
Dharmaraj fielded two 17-year-olds and one 14-year-old in the Open.
And how has the three young ladies fared in Singapore? "My experience of being with the ladies team for 30 months indicate that they tend to take some time to mature and setle down.
"That's one of the reasons I choose to field talented youth early. And amongh the three, Amira is into her third touranment and she finally looked settled with the others.
"Syafi and Kirandeep (14) will need more time with the team."
Nuramirah Zulkifli (Amira) has 15 caps, Nurmaizatulhanim Syafi 16 caps, and Kirandeep Kaur played on all five pool matches to earn her maiden caps.
Nuramirah scored six goals, while Syafi two.
Malaysia's only 'problem' in this tournament is wasting too many penalty corners and open chances before scoring. This could pose some problems in the Jakarta Asian Games where they will play against higher ranked teams.
"Ladies generally do not have a 'killer instinct' in term of goal scoring, compared to men. This problem is not only confined to Malaysia, but the whole hockey playing world.
"This tournament is definitely not to the level of the top-four Asian teams (India, China, South Korea, Japan). However, Hong Kong, Thailand, Kazakhstan and Indonesia will also be playing in the Asian Games and its good that we found out their true form early.
"As for penalty corner wastages, I am trying to coach a world class drag flicker and that is one reason I keep going for direct flicks instead of using set-pieces.
"Against stronger teams, we use many set-pieces but here I am giving a chance to my flickers to progress."
From all teams competing in this first 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.
FINAL 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
