The National Women’s Hockey Team’s third consecutive win including defeating Thailand 3-0, today in the round robin, Women’s Field Hockey event, SEA Games Cambodia 2023 held at the Morodok Techo National Stadium, took them to the final stage.
The total nine points collected by the national team made Malaysia the first team to confirm a place in the final stage and now the national team is still waiting for who will be the opponent in the final stage.
The three goals scored by the National Women’s Team today came in the second quarter of the match starting with a penalty corner goal scored by Khairunnisa Ayuni Mohd Sharuddin in the 23rd minute.
Fatin Shafikah Mahd Sukri added Malaysia’s second goal in the 26th minute after a chaotic situation in Thailand’s “D” area to nullify the country’s pressure.
Three minutes before the end of the first half, Malaysia, who were rewarded with a penalty corner, ensured that the advantage was translated into a goal when a direct flick from Nuraini Abdul Rashid failed to be saved by the Thai goalkeeper and the score remained 3-0 until the end of the match.
The Head Coach of the National Women’s Squad, Mohd Nasihin Nubli Ibrahim, was grateful for their third consecutive victory and praised the players who managed to absorb the pressure of the scorching hot weather and heat to continue giving their best on the field.
“The players played according to the plan given to them, however, there was a moment when they started to lack focus and caused the opposing team to attack and our opponent Thailand also played well today.
“We also missed a few chances to score goals including missing a goal through a penalty corner and this is something we will continue to improve for the rest of the remaining matches and we need to be more disciplined in defense to not allow the opponent to enter our “D” area easily.
“Overall I praise the efforts of the players but I demand more from them. Even though we have qualified for the final, we will still focus on the match against Indonesia later, just like before and we still respect whoever we meet,” he explained.
Tomorrow is a rest day for the National Women’s Team and on Monday (May 15) they will go down to complete their round robin match schedule against Indonesia at 3:00 pm, Malaysia time.
