Saturday, April 16, 2016

Another Malaysian sob story...

NEW Zealand beat Malaysia to the bronze in the 25th Edition of the Azlan Shah Cup in a tensed shoot-out, after the match ended 3-3 in Ipoh Saturday.
  The Kwis scored all five, while Fitri Shaari missed the last shoot-out to bow out 5-4.
   Coach Stephen van Huizen's men, who finished at the bottom last year, had plenty of time to kill off the match after taking a 2-0 lead by the 11th minute.
  But they toyed around with New Zealand who came back strongly to draw level at 2-2. Malaysia again took the lead, only to be taken into a shoot-out with one minute remaining.
  Ramadan Rosli (4th) and Fitri Shaari (11th) made it 2-0, Hayden Phillips (27th) and Kane Russell (43rd) made it 2-2.
  Shahril Saabah (43rd) brought momentary cheers to the Malaysian side, but Russel (59th) had the last laugh.
  "I'am extremely disappointed for the boys to finish they way they did because they played some good hockey against higher ranked teams in this tournament.
  "We held (world no 8) New Zealand 3-3 in the pool, and again 3-3 today (yesterday) but in a shoot-out there is no more guarantee," said Van Huizen.
  Malaysia used both their goalkeepers yesterday -- Hafizuddin Othman for four quarters and Hairi Rahman for the shoot-out.
  Both of them displayed moments of brilliance, followed by moments of madness.
  "We tried both the goalkeepers equally in this tournament and I believe they will become better players by facing more experienced opponents in the long run."
  For the record, Malaysia's No 1 goalkeeper S. Kumar was left out of this tournament due to injury.
  New Zealand coach Colin Batch lauded his players self-believe.
  "We were 0-2 down, but my players kept believing in themselves and the end result is very pleasing as we prepare for the Olympics," said Batch.
  RESULTS Final: Australia x India x; Third-Fourth: Malaysia 3 New Zealand 3 (New Zealand win 5-4 in shoot-out); Fifth-Sixth: Canada 1 Pakistan 3.