KUALA LUMPUR − The national women’s Special Project Squad came back from behind twice to trounce Zimbabwe 7-2 and finish 11th in the Women’s Junior Hockey World Cup in Potchefstroom, South Africa, yesterday.
The national women’s junior team under the guidance of chief coach Nasihin Nubli Ibrahim began the 11th-12th placing match at the North-West University pitch in dire straits when Zimbabwe drew first blood after just two minutes through a field goal by Tinodiwanashe Elijah.
Luckily for Malaysia, Siti Nur Arfah Mohd Nor restored parity eight minutes later with a field goal as well.
Zimbabwe stunned Malaysia again in the 15th minute when Alexi Terblanche put them 2-1 up with another field goal before Nur Insyirah Effarizal equalised in the 22nd minute through a penalty corner set piece.
That equaliser was just the spark Malaysia needed as they then turned on the heat to take the lead for the first time a minute later through a penalty stroke converted by Nuramirah Shakirah Zulkifli.
There was no stopping the Malaysian girls after that as Nur Afiqah Syahzani Azhar (39th minute, field goal); Dayang Nuramirah Abang Mahadini (41st minute, penalty corner); Nuramirah Shakirah (48th minute, field goal) and Khairunnisa Ayuni Mohd Sharudin (53rdd minute, penalty corner) completed the rout.
Meanwhile, Nasihin was happy that his players gained valuable high-level exposure and experience from the tournament, adding that his charges showed improvement in each match.
“The effort put in by the players was very good and they gave it their everything besides sticking to the game plan as best they could.
“Thank you to the panel of coaches, who had helped a lot in analysing the matches, and thank you also to the Malaysian Hockey Confederation for having faith in this young team,” he said.
Earlier, the national women’s junior team ended the group stage with one draw and two defeats.
They then notched their first win in the tournament when they edged Uruguay 2-1 in the ninth-16th placing tie on Thursday before capitulating 2-1 to Ireland in the ninth-12th placing classification match on Saturday. – Bernama, April 12, 2022
