Hockey Series Open: Malaysia v Thailand final

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

..now for the hosts

By Jugjet Singh

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

Malaysia hammer Thailand

KUALA LUMPUR: The national women's team secured their place in the final of the Hockey Series Open in Singapore after recording their fourth win on Wednesday.
  K. Dharmaraj’s side eased to another comfortable victory, this time emerging 4-0 winners over Thailand at the Sengkang Sports Club to maintain their 100 per cent record in the tournament.
  Thailand had gone into the match as the second-ranked team in the league standings.
  Early pressure on the Thai's paid off when Fazilla Sylvester Sillin opened the scoring in the 23rd minute with Nuraini Rashid making it 2-0 just a minute later. Both goals were scored via penalty corners.
  Nur Amirah Shakirah Zulkifli made it 3-0 with a field goal in the 43rd while Hanis Nadia Onn completed the rout in the 53rd, again through open play.
  Malaysia lead the standings with 12 points having earlier in the tournament beaten Indonesia (18-0), Hong Kong (10-0) and Kazakhstan (8-1).
  Malaysia play hosts' Singapore in their final league match on Friday. Only the finallists will qualify for the second round of the Series Open competition.

Dharmaraj: We always play to break new barriers...

By Jugjet Singh

June 26, 2018 @ 4:41pm

KUALA LUMPUR: National women's coach K. Dharmaraj has been tasked with a steep target in the Asian Games in Jakarta, but he and his charges are game to make a gallant attempt.
  The Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) had categorised the women's team as 'B', where they will have to pay their own expenses to the Asian Games and only reimbursed if they return with a medal.
  Malaysia has always been fifth in Asia, but Dharmaraj aims to break that ceiling in Jakarta from Aug 10-Sept 2.
  "It will not be easy, but whenever I take my girls for any tournament, I always tell them not to fear any team and break new barriers.
  "We have been doing that for the last two years, and will make an attempt to enter the semi-finals, and then go for a medal in the Asian Games," said Dharmaraj.
  Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) deputy president Datuk S. Shamala had said: "Irrelevant of whatever category our women’s team are in, just as our president Datuk Seri Subahan Kamal has said earlier 'the girls are definitely going to feature at the Asian Games'.
  "We believe greatly that all the hard work the entire ecosystem has done tailoring for this edition of the Asian Games for the past 30 months with the dedication and extensive work of coaches Dharmaraj, Lailin Abu Hassan and Roslan Jamaluddin our girls will finish on the podium at the Jakarta Asian Games.".
  Meanwhile, after hammering Indonesia 18-0 and Hong Kong 10-0, the women's team will play Kazakhstan in the Hockey Series Open at the Sengkang Stadium in Singapore Tuesday.
  "We beat Kazakhstan 2-1 in our last meeting, and I expect them to be our toughest opponents in this tournament. We need to be sharper during penalty corners as we missed to many in the first two games," said Dharmaraj.
  Malaysia won 39 penalty corners in two games, but could only score 10 goals.
  "Yes, we had a total of 39 penalty corners in two matches but scored only 10. That's a big concern for me as we need to be sharper in the next two matches against Kazakhstan and Thailand.
  "I expect Kazakhstan to defend and rely on counter-attack. They have really fast forwards who gave us a lot of problems in our last meeting (Asia Cup).
  However in the World League Round Two in Kuala Lumpur last year, Malaysia hammered Kazakhstan 13-1.

Malaysia 10 Hong Kong 0

Hockey Series Open - Singapore 2018 (Women)

RR

 Malaysia 10 

Hong Kong 0