KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian women's team will play Thailand on Sunday for the Hockey Series Open gold medal at the Seng Kang Stadium.
Yesterday, Malaysia beat Singapore 5-0 to top the standings on maximum 15 points, while Thailand beat Kazakhstan 4-0 to finish second on 12 points.
Thailand lost to Malaysia 4-0 in this tournament, and are not expected to stop coach K. Dharmaraj's charges from claiming a golden finish.
The finalists in Singapore advance to the next stage, yet to be decided by the International Hockey Federation (FIH).
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.
Malaysia got their goals off Nur Zafirah Aziz (first), Wan Norfaiezah Saiuti (sixth), Nur Amirah Shakirah Zulkifli (30th), Fatin Shafika Shukri (56th) and Nuraini Rashid (58th).
"As the highest ranked team in this tournament, of course we want to win gold and even though we did beat Thailand 4-0 in the pool stage, we will not take them lightly in the final.
"Thailand have always had an ambition to beat Malaysia and so, we can't afford to give them much space on Sunday," said Dharmaraj.
For the record, Malaysia beat Thailand 2-0 in the 2017 Kuala Lumpur Sea Games final.
FINAL STANDINGS
P W D L F A Pts
Malaysia 5 5 0 0 45 1 15
Thailand 5 4 0 1 25 4 12
Kazakhstan 5 3 0 2 15 12 9
Singapore 5 1 1 3 7 9 4
Hong Kong 5 1 1 3 12 17 4
Indonesia 5 0 0 5 0 61 0
Friday, June 29, 2018
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