Malaysia whitewash Austria 7-0!

THE Malaysian women's hockey team whitewashed hosts Austria 7-0 in the Fifth-Eighth Classification match in the Champions Challenge II yesterday.

They will play Russia, who they held to a 2-2 draw in a Group B match, in the Fifth-Sixth Classicfication match today.

In the last Champions Challenge II, Malaysia finished seventh out of eight teams.

Yesterday, the Malaysian goals were scored by Nor Hidayah Ahmad (14th), Nadia Abdul Rahman (23rd), Noor Hasliza Ali (35th, 36th), Juliani Din (46th), Siti Shahidah Saad (69th).

It was Malaysia's first win in five matches.

RESULTS -- Fifth-Eigtht Classification: Russia 3 Canada 2, Malaysia 7 Austria 0.

Today: Fifth-Sixth -- Russia v Malaysia.

Unpredictable to the hilt

THE Malaysian hockey team never ceases to amaze its fans, and their speciality is to produce results when one least expects them to.

The 20th Edition of the Azlan Shah Cup is a classic example of how erratic the team can be.

At the Asian Games, they were never expected to reach the final, but proved everyone wrong. But after fighting like wounded tigers in the previous matches, they bowed out in the final against Pakistan like domesticated cats.

"There has been many ups and downs in this tournament probably because we lost three key defenders to injuries and I had to reshuffle some positions.

"However, I believe the team's true strength was displayed when they played against South Korea. My players are capable of playing even better than this, and that is what we need to bring out of them when we play in the Olympic Qualifiers," said Malaysian coach Tai Beng Hai.

There was a show of free flow hockey, with Malaysia displaying that they can score with ease off almost flawless counter-attacks.

"That (counter-attacks) is the strength of this young side, as we have fast forwards. However, in this tournament, they have been playing inconsistently in some of the matches.

"And if you only play good hockey for 35 minutes, you will surely be punished by this world class field," said Beng Hai.

Malaysia meet Pakistan today, who are equally as erratic as Malaysia, and the match could swing either way.

However, if South Korea beat Great Britian in the earlier match, even if Maaysia beat Pakistan by a dozen goals, they will still end up last and rest on Sunday while the other six teams either play for medals, or for positions in the classification matches.

Peeved with poor umpiring

A WORLD class tournament, but with B Grade umpires is what five out of the seven coaches at the Azlan Shah Cup are peeved about.

India, Pakistan, South Korea Australia and a polite Malaysian coach have all lamented how their team was penalised because of poor decisions taken by the umpires.

South Korean coach Shin Seok Kyo, Australian coach Ric Charlesworth, India coach Harendra Singh and Pakistan coach Khawaja Junaid have never been so vocal on umpires in previous tournaments.

"It is a shame that world class teams, four of whom have qualified for the Olympics, are playing in the Azlan Shah Cup but poor quality umpires have been selected to officiate.

"Teams have spent much time and money to prepare sides, and many poorly executed decisions have led to defeats and many other problems on the field," said Harendra.

Ric, normally reserved about the umpires, was also in his element when he said: "I had praised the umpires earlier, but feel otherwise now. They seem to have their own interpretations on hockey rules and its a shame."

The Australian guided his side to the World Cup, Champions Trophy and Commonwealth Games gold medals and is normally reserved about commenting on the umpires.

As for Malaysian coach Tai Beng Hai, he was poilte on his assessment.

"I don't like to comment about the umpires, but you can see for yourself how matches are being handled by them."

The Azlan Shah Cup is a world class tournament, and the coaches are hoping that in the next edition, the International Hockey Federation will not use it to experiment with their coaching set-up.

Malaysian women lose narrowly

THE Malaysian women's hockey team lost 2-1 to Italy in the quarter-finals of the Champions Challenge II in Vienna, Austria yesterday.

It was a close call, as the Italians only managed to score off Alessia Padalino in the 32nd minute. Alessia again scored in the 54th minute, but Fazilla Sylvester Silin pulled one back in the 64th minute.

Time ran out on the Malaysian side, and now they will play in the fifth-eighth classification match agaist hosts Austria.

RESULTS -- Q-finals: Malaysia 1 Italy 2, Belarus 4 Austria 1, Chile 3 Russia 2, Belgium 1 Canada 0.

TODAY: Classification Fifth-Eighth -- Russia v Canada, Malaysia v Austria.

TOMORROW: Semi-finals -- Chile v Belgium, Italy v Belarus.

Malaysia 3 Korea 1

MALAYSIA played brilliant hockey in the second half to beat South Korea 3-1 for their first three points in the Azlan Shah Cup in Ipoh yesterday.
And now, after a day's rest, they must beat Pakistan and hope the Koreans lose to Great Britain so that they do not end as wooden spoonists.
Malaysia survived a penalty stroke, but let in a soft penalty corner instead in the first half when they again played in patches.
A seventh minute blunder by Shukri Mutalib, who shoved down a Korean in the semi-circle, led to Japanese umpire Satoshi Kondo blowing for a penalty stroke.
Jang Jong Hyun moved to the spot but his flick was well saved by Malaysian goalkeeper S. Kumar with the tip of his pads.
However, the golden save was shattered to pieces, when Nam Hyun Woo scores off a grounder attempt in a 17th minute penalty corner.
Both Malaysia's penalty corners went to waste.
There was more commitment in the seond half, and it produced a super goal from Nabil Fiqri in the 43rd minute.
The hard-work of racing down the flank and making a deft pass was done by Izwan Firdaus, and Nabil colelcted the ball on the reverse and with hardly an angle to score, but reverse stick shot found the gap and Malaysia were back in the picture.
And in the 58th minute, a super run down the flank Hafifihafiz Hanafi saw the ball meeting an unmarked Faizal Saari, and Malaysia finally took the lead.
Malaysia played like men possed after taking the lead, and in the 67th minute Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin set-up Izwan Firdaus for the third goal, and Malaysia colelcted their first three points of the tournament.
In another match, New Zealand came back from behind thrice, after which they went full steam ahead to humiliate India 7-3. It was the biggest win for the Kiwis in their 65 meetings against India since 1935.
Prior to this, the wins by New Zealand over India were one goal margins, except for the match in Antwerp in 2007 where New Zealand won 2-0.
The Kiwi goals were scored by Nicholas Wilson (24th), Blair Hilton (32nd, 64th), Andrew Hayward (46th, 57th), Matt L'huiller (52nd), Neal Shay (58th).
India got their goals off Sowmarpet Sunil (20th), Gurwinder Singh (26th, 41st).