IT'S NOW OR NEVER TO MAKE ALL COUNT
It is redemption time for Malaysia against Korea and that will be song on their minds as they work towards turning the tables in the 29th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup 2022 International Men's hockey tournament.
It is not just that Korea had defeated Malaysia 3-0 in the opening match on Nov 1, but still fresh on their minds, is their Asia Cup defeat in the final in Jakarta in May, when they went down 1-2.
Earlier in the first match in the Asia Cup, Malaysia had defeated Korea 5-4, before both teams had played to a 2-2 in the Super round match, before going down in the final.
The loss in the final dashed Malaysia hopes to win the gold medal.
It was Malaysia's second silver medal in the Asia Cup and for South Korea, it was their fifth gold since 1982.
“We won the first match in Jakarta and lost in the final. This time here in Ipoh, we lost the first match and hope it is our turn to win in the final,” said national coach A. Arul Selvaraj.
“The air with the team is that they are determined to win the tournament to create history to win it for the first time after 29 editions.”
Malaysia has emerged runners-up 5 times (1985,2007,2009, 2013, 2014) and 3rd placed twice (1996 and 2019)
“The morale of our team is great and confidence soared up after three good performances (Egypt, South Africa and Japan).
“We have to keep up with the momentum and raise it a notch higher to edge the Koreans.
“Korea will definitely be coming at us with boosted confidence with their earlier win over us and being unbeaten in the tournament (only surprisingly Egypt held them to a scoreless draw).
“They are also the defending champions (2019) and will definitely going all out to defend the title.”
Arul said Malaysia is probably in a no-win situation because if Malaysia wrest the title, critics will say that Malaysia played against lower ranked teams and if Malaysia does not win the title, it will be said that Malaysia could not win a tournament with lower ranked teams.
South Africa are currently ranked 14th together with Korea, Japan is 17th ranked, Pakistan 18th and Egypt 20th. Malaysia is the highest ranked on 10th.
“For me every win is a win and teams maybe lower ranked but the competition here has revealed that it has been close between most teams.
“Besides, like I have said that ours is a process to see us qualify for he Paris Olympics.
“We now have the Nation’s Cup in South Africa at the end of the month, the World Cup in India in January and the Asian Games in September in Hangzhou. We will take each one step by step to improve with each passing tournament.
“The win here in Ipoh will serve as a good stepping stone for the upcoming assignments.”
Ends.
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