Azlan Shah Cup: Malaysia win rare bronze..

By Jugjet Singh
jugjet@nst.com.my


IPOH: Malaysia won a rare Azlan Shah Cup bronze when they beat Canada 4-2 Saturday.
  It way way back in 1996 when the first bronze was wrestled away from Great Britain in a 4-3 penalty stroke competition, after the match ended 2-2.
  The second bronze should inspire Malaysia to do much better in the FIH Series Finals in Kuala Lumpur on April 26 to May 4.
  When Malaysian coach Roelant Oltmans was asked what positives his team will take into the pre-Olympic Qualifier, he was short and sharp.
  "Wait and see, wait for the tournament to answer your question.
  The other teams in this pre-Olympic Qualifier are not big guns and Malaysia even has the advantage as hosts.
  Group A is made up of Canada, Austria, Wales and Belarus.
  Malaysia are in Group B with China, Brazil and Italy.
  And it looks like Malaysia will play Canada again, if both teams enter the final.
  Mark Pearson scored a field goal in the 14th minute, and the capacity crowd went silent for a few minutes, until Nik Aiman Nik Rozemi equalised off a 23rd minute penalty corner.
  From then onwards, local boy Azrai Aizad Abu Kamal (29th), Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin (30th) and Faizal Saari (45th) made sure the bronze did not slip out of their grasps.
  James Wallaca narrowed the gap in the 59th minute, but the clock died on Canada's comeback aspirations.
  Malaysia failed against South Korea and India, but retained some pride when they beat Canada twice in a row.
  Penalty corners were a big letdown in both the crucial matches to take Malaysia higher up in the tournament.
  "We did have a good conversion rate in the other matches, but could have done better in the Korea and India matches. 
  "We will work on it, and Taeke Taekema (former world class Dutch flicker) will be back with goalkeepers coach Martijn Drijver (also from Netherlands) a week before the Series Finals," said Oltmans who also brought down both the Dutch legends for the Azlan Shah Cup.
   RESULTS: Final -- South Korea x India x; Third-Fourth: Malaysia 4 Canada 2; Fifth-Sixth: Japan 6 Poland 1.