News

01-09 Malaysia win five nation tournament

2010-09-01 17:08:00

Malaysia won a five-nation hockey tournament in Paris with a 4-2 win over France in their final fixture of a round-robin competition on Sunday.

The Malaysians finished with nine points – one point ahead of Ireland, who beat Scotland 2-0 in an earlier match. Malaysia had in other matches beaten Poland and Scotland but lost to Ireland. Scotland finished in third place ahead of France and Poland.

Malaysia went into the match against France needing only a simple win to lift the title after Scotland had lost their match against Ireland.

Malaysia led 1-0 at half time with a goal by Izwan Firdaus in the eighth minute.

France equalised with a penalty stroke conversion by Fabien Magner in the 41st minute.
Double strike: Hafifihafiz Hanafi scored two goals in Malaysia’s 4-2 win over France on Sunday.

But five minutes later, Mohamed Razie Rahim restored the lead for Malaysia from the penalty corner.

Then, Hafifihafiz Hanafi went on target in the 50th and 63rd minutes before Martin Genestet pulled a goal back for France in the 66th minute.

The tournament was part of an European Tour for the Malaysians team preparing for the Commonwealth Games (October) and Asian Games (November).

The team will return home today and the 18 players will have a short break before resuming training on Sunday.

“Only the 18 players who went on the European Tour will get the break,” said team manager George Koshy.

“For the others, training goes until the break for Hari Raya.

“We are happy with those training at home and we hope to continue pushing them as selection for the two Games is still open.”

The Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) will be making a decision on whether to send a mixed team to New Delhi for Commonwealth Games and the squad will be named on Saturday.

“The national coach will give his views on the selection before a final decision is taken,” said George.

The Star