KUALA LUMPUR, April 1: Malaysia continued their fine run in six-nation junior invitational hockey tournament beating South Korea 2-1 to take a big step towards final on Sunday.
But Malaysians were clearly not at their best in a match that was scrappy at times. It was their fighting spirit that brought them a late goal to win match.
Malaysia led 1-0 at half time with a goal by Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin in 21st minute. Koreans equalised with a field goal by Hong Seng-kweon in 50th minute.
Kelvinder Singh, who had a hand in first goal, deflected in a free hit three minutes from time to give Malaysia winner.
Junior’s coach Sarjit Singh said: “We did not play as well as we did in previous three matches (against England, Pakistan and Germany). But we won with hard work and that is a good sign.
“There were some silly mistakes but strategy was right. We did not go for open game and opted for counter-attacking game. We stayed back and kept defensive structure and in end, it paid off.”
Koreans have not been impressive in the tournament. They did not have any good attacking moves which allowed Malaysians to get ball out of defence.
Malaysia took lead in 21st minute off free hit taken outside D by skipper Abdul Malek. Kelvinder relayed it to unmarked Tengku Ahmad, who had easy task of beating goalkeper Kim Jae-young from close range.
In the second half, Koreans increased tempo and were more dangerous with their attacks. In 50th minute, they earned penalty corner and managed to get ball back into D and Seng-kweon slammed it into net.
Malaysia got three penalty corners in 48th, 53rd & 65th minutes And Zulkifli Rejab flicked in third attempt.
But goal was disallowed as umpire Harider Rasool ruled ball was stopped inside D. Hosts were not to be denied a goal later. Abdul Malek took free hit and Kelvinder deflected ball.
Malaysia are now in second place with eight points and draw with India in final preliminary round fixture Saturday will earn them a final date with Pakistan.
Meanwhile, defending champions India, who lost 2-3 against arch rivals Pakistan on Wednesday, thrashed England 5-1 on Friday.
Captain Prabodh Tirkey scored through a penalty corner, while two field goals by Ajitesh and two brilliant penalty corner conversions by Sandeep Singh fashioned India’s thumping win. India led 4-0 at half time.
“Today’s win was most important for us. The boys were all charged up, they had realised the mistakes they had made in their matches so far and played as a unified team,” Indian coach Harendra Singh said after the match.
Ajitesh displayed both skill and agility when he dived to corner the ball from Adam Sinclair and netted it straight in.
His second goal was also a swift dive to the right to get pass From Hari Prasad and convert it into a winner straight into goal mouth.—PPI
