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Kirandeep Kaur (file pic), who turned 15 during the ongoing Tour in Australia, scores the winning goal.
THE Malaysian women's hockey team beat Queensland 2-1 Friday. They were losing 1-0, but Nuraini Rashid scored the equalsier and a minute before the game ended, Kirandeep Kaur scored the winner.
By Saiful Affendy Sapran
saifulaffendy@nstp.com.my
KUALA LUMPUR: Fifteen-year-old Kirandeep Kaur scored a last minute winner against Queensland for a well deserved 2-1 victory leading towards the Asian Games in Jakarta.
Kirandeep made her national team debut in the Singapore Hockey Series Open end of June, where she scored her first international goal in Malaysia's 6-0 win against Thailand in the final.
It was coach K. Dharmaraj's team's second win in four matches as they won 3-1 in the third frienly and drew 2-2 and 1-1 in the others.
The Malaysian women were losing 1-0, but Nuraini Rashid scored the equalsier off a penalty corner and with 30 seconds remaining on the clock, Kirandeep nailed the winner off a penalty corner rebound.
Dharmaraj was all smiles, and praised his charges fighting spirit.
"Queensland started aggressively as they wanted their first win and took the lead. We had many chances to equalise off field attempts but their goalkeeper was in top form.
"
In the third quarter Nuraini finally equalised off a penalty corner which we won after mounting several waves of attacks, and it made my charges more determined.
"And with 30 seconds to end, Kirandeep scored off a penalty corner rebound to seal victory," said Dharmaraj.
Malaysia will play their final friendly against Queensland on Sunday.
KOOKABURRAS PIC: FULL-TIME | Australia A wins 3-0 over in game 3 at PHS
KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian men's national hockey team lost 3-0 to a provincial side, Australia A, in their third consecutive defeat in gloomy Perth Friday.
Malaysia had lost 4-2 and 3-2 in their earlier matches, leading towards the Asian Games in Jakarta next month.
Coach Stephen van Huizen's men are targeted to win gold in the Games, and qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but their performance in Australia has been very cold.
Before the match started, Hockey Australia had tweeted: "Warm-up time on a gloomy Friday in Perth for Australia A who take on Malaysia soon."
Malaysia will play two more matches against the same side before Van Huizen selects his final 18 for Asian Games.
Yesterday, the other news from Perth was gloomy as well when Nabil Fiqri caught fever, while Meor Azuan Hassan picked up a hamstring injury.
No 1 goalkeeper S. Kumar was rested as well, and Australia A scored in the 29th, 44th and 58th minutes to seal the series with two matches in hand.
Van Huizen said: "It was another tough game which yielded disappointing results.
"My players worked very hard but were punished for making mistakes at crucial moments even though we were tighter and more patient in defence."
The seasoned coach said they have to regroup for the remaining two games.
"We conceded a goal one minute before half-time, and we worked hard to get the equalsier but could not find it. We need regroup for the remaining matches."
In Jakarta, Malaysia are in an easy Group B with Bangladesh, Oman, Thailand and Indonesia and their only tough opponents should be Pakistan.
Reaching the semi-finals is not difficult, but van Huizen and his men must finish tops in their group to avoid meeting early favourites India from Group A in the knock-out.
By Saiful Affendy Sapran
saifulaffendy@nstp.com.my
KUALA LUMPUR: Back-to-back defeats to Australia A in the ongoing five-match series would make anybody else push the panic button, but not national skipper Shukri Mutalib.
Coach Stephen van Huizen's team is Down Under to prepare for the Jakarta Asian Games, where they aim to win gold and qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Australia A is made up of provincial and some former national players, and are not the world No 1 side.
Malaysia has lost 4-2 and 3-2 so far, and will play again Friday.
Shukri is not to worried, as he feels they lost because of silly mistakes.
"We need to avoid silly mistakes in the next three matches, because in hockey one only needs a lapse of a few seconds to change the teams fortunes from leading to losing or the other way around," said Shukri.
In the second match, Malaysia were leading 2-0 before Australia came back and won.
"We also need to be consistent in defence, and the midfield must also be alert enough to make sure the ball does not easily breach the middle.
"We are working to tighten these areas, and even though the results do not favour us yet, I believe we will amend all these silly mistakes by the end of the Australian Tour," said Shukri.
Van Huizen will select his final 18 for the Games at the end of the Tour.
By Naqib Nor Said
naqib@nstp.com.my
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's penalty corner flicker Nuraini Rashid finally found her touch when she scored two goals and assisted in the other in the 3-1 win against Queensland Sports Academy in Brisbane Thursday.
The first two friendlies ended in 2-2 and 1-1 draws against the same team.
Coach K. Dharmaraj's charges are preparing for the Jakarta Asian Games next month.
The other goal was scored by Hanis Nadiah Onn, off a penalty corner set-piece created by Nuraini, who had failed to score in the first two friendlies.
"I am relieved to finally score after missing five and 11 penalty corners in the first two matches. The Academy players are no pushovers and are almost same level with us and so its a moral boost for me to score aginst them," said Nuraini when contacted.
"This is our best performance in the series so far as we defended well and then mounted counter-attacks and won five penalty corners and tucked in three goals.
"And in the fourth quarter we did not give them any open chances or penalty corners and this is a big achievement because my girls normally let the opponents score after taking a lead.
"I am especially happy with the performance of several players namely Wan Norfaiezah (Saiuti), Hanis Nadiah, Nuraini, Siti Noor Amarina (Ruhani) and Raja Norsharina (Raja Shabuddin).
"Youngster Kirandeep Kaur (15-years-old) also gave a good account of herself,” said Dharmaraj.
By HAIKA KHAZI
PUTRAJAYA: The sports ministry has held back a final RM40,000 payment to contractor Kuckreja & Co because they did not remove the rubber surface used for the indoor hockey event at last year’s Kuala Lumpur Sea Games (KL2017).
Sports ministry chief secretary Datuk Lokman Hakim Ali said Kuckerja & Co were given a contract to install and later remove the indoor hockey pitch after the Sea Games at the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre (MITEC).
"They refused to do it and asked that the final payment of RM40,000 be paid first," said Lokman.
"The sports ministry did not do so as the final payment is only to be made once all work has been done in a satisfactory manner."
Lokman pointed out that Kuckerja & Co's failure to clear the indoor hockey mat has also led to other contractors unable to remove their own equipment from MITEC. The ministry thus has no choice but to let other contractors remove the pitch.
"As a result, six of the 28 rolls of the rubber surface were damaged. The remaining 22 rolls are in good condition and in storage at the ministry," added Lokman.
"The ministry will deduct a part of the final payment to Kuckreja & Co as compensation."
KL2017 Malaysian Organising Committee chief executive officer Datuk Seri Zolkples Embong declined to comment on the issue.
Zolkples said the equipment and facilities used for KL2017 came under the purview of the facilities committee chaired by Lokman.
On a separate note, Lokman explained that the delay in final payments to certain contractors for KL2017 was due to insufficient documentation from them.
"The contractors have been asked to submit the documents. The payments will be made as soon as we receive them."
