THERE have been several memorable and cherished goals during my hockey career.
One such moment happened during a Champions Trophy match on July 7, 1993 against a formidable Pakistani side at the Tun Razak Stadium along Jalan Duta in Kuala Lumpur.
Scored in the 53rd minute, the equaliser was special not merely because it was followed by an eruption of joy from a packed stadium but because of the way it was executed.
The Pakistanis were caught with a move that many players around the world were trying to perfect — a low back hand manoeuvre known as the ‘Argentine Reverse’.
Here’s how it happened: I received a pass from Nor Saiful Zaini Nasiruddin in the semi-circle. As a left winger, I was marked by Tahir Zaman, who was on right half instead of his usual position on inside right.
My initial reaction was to use a forehand move to attempt a strike but at the last moment, I let the ball cross my body, which caught Tahir flat-footed.
With my gaze averted from the goal mouth, I executed a low reverse hit and the ball landed top net, much to goalkeeper Shahid Ali Khan’s surprise.
Earlier in the game, Pakistan had taken the lead via a penalty corner by Khalid Bashir in the 25th minute. Malaysia erased the deficit when I scored a rebound from a penalty corner in the 41st minute.
My truly momentous equaliser came five minutes after Khalid scored a 2-1 for Pakistan in the 48th minute.
This was a great achievement, owing to the fact that Pakistan went on to win the World Cup in Sydney a year later.
Coincidentally, that second goal attracted the attention of Roelant Oltmans, the coach of Holland at the time, who was in attendance with his players to observe Pakistan in action.
Well, it so happened that history was created that fateful day — I was the very first player to have scored a low back hand in an official tournament.
‘At the Champions Trophy in 1993, the Malaysian striker Mirnawan Nawawi scored the first low back hand ever. (Our) players watched their eyes out. (Oltman) talks about this hockey history,' wrote Roelant Oltmans.
These words were written by the former Malaysia coach in conjunction with a special book that was produced by the International Hockey Federation (FIH) in 2018 to commemorate the last edition of the Champions Trophy tournament.
Founded in 1978 by the Pakistan Hockey Federation, the Champions League featured the world's top-ranked hockey players in competition. The 37th and final edition, which was held on June 23-July 1, 2018 in Breda, Holland, was replaced by the Hockey Pro League (HPL) in 2019.
Besides Oltmans' glowing endorsement, I came to know from fellow Malaysians in attendance that the video clip of my historic ‘Argentine Reverse’ goal was used by FIH for their subsequent coaching courses.
Suffice to say that my teammates and I were elated to have participated in the Champions League tournament — which was up there with the World Cup and the Olympics in terms of prestige — when Malaysia played host on July 3-11, 1993.
Although Malaysia's performance at the 1991 Olympic qualifiers in Auckland and at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics was instrumental in helping us become the host nation that following year, due credit must be given to the Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) and then Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) for their ability to convince FIH to nominate Malaysia for the very first time.
FIH saw Malaysia was fast improving under coach Terry Walsh and were ready to compete against the best of the best. In the eyes of the FIH, we were truly making progress.
Much like the hockey fraternity before the start of the tournament, my teammates and I were naturally excited and were eagerly anticipating the big day. I’m proud to say that we were able to compete with the best -- based on our scores and our performance.
Malaysia finished fifth on the table after beating Spain 2-1 in the group stages — drawing 2-2 with Pakistan and losing 2-1 to Holland, 4-1 to Germany and 4-2 to Australia respectively. Sadly, in the fifth and sixth place classification match, we lost 5-3 to Spain.
The experience garnered at the tournament proved useful in our preparation for the Intercontinental Cup, which acted as the 1994 World Cup qualifiers in Poznan in August 1993.
After all that’s said and done, I am indeed thankful to have had the chance to play in a Champions Trophy tournament but who could have imagined that it would turn out to be a historic outing as well for my teammates and I. – The Vibes, November 27, 2020.
Here is the complete list of players on that fateful day: -
Malaysia First 11: Ahmad Fadzil Zainai Abidin, Gary Fidelis, Calvin Fernandez, Charles David, R. Shankar, Lim Chiow Chuan, Sarjit Singh, Soon Mustafa Karim, Nor Saiful Zaini Nasiruddin, Mohamad Abdul Hadi and myself. The reserve players were Paul Lopez, Lailin Abu Hassan, Bryan Siva, S. Sivabalan and Ariffin Ghani.
Pakistan First 11: Shahid Ali Khan, Mujahid Rana, Khalid Bashir, Tahir Zaman, Khawaja Junaid, Hussain Musaddiq, Shahbaz Ahmad, Kamran Ashraf, Wasim Feroze, Irfan Magmood, Rahim Khan. The reserve players were Mansor Ahmad, Khalid Muhammad, Muhammad Shahbaz, Muhammad Akhlaq and Khan Ehsan.
