Malaysia a shoo-in for gold

national women’s team are tipped to win gold in the Hockey Series Open at the Seng Kang Stadium in Singapore today.

It is only a matter of how many goals World No 22 Malaysia will score against Thailand in the final.

For the record, Malaysia have not lost to the World No 28 in the last 10 meetings.

In the preliminary round in Singapore, K. Dharmaraj’s side hammered the Thais 4-0.

“I believe we will not have a problem justifying our No 1 ranking tomorrow. Half of the battle will be won if we can cut Thailand’s counter attacks,” said Dharmaraj in Singapore yesterday.

The coach also brought two 17year-olds and one 14-year-old to Singapore in the hope that the experience will help them develop.

“Based on my experience of being with the team for 30 months, young players tend to take some time to mature and settle down.

“That’s one of the reasons I chose many young players for the tournament.

“Nuramirah Zulkifli finally looks settled in her third tournament with the senior team. Nurmaizatulhanim Syafi and Kirandeep Kaur both need more time,” he said.

Nuramirah, who has 15 caps, has scored six goals while Nurmaizatulhanim (16 caps) has netted twice.

Kirandeep played in all five pool matches for her maiden caps. Malaysia’s only problem in the tournament is turning chances into goals from penalty corners and open play.

“Generally, women do not have the ‘killer instinct’ in attack compared to men.

“Teams here are definitely not to the level of the top-four Asian sides (India, China, South Korea, Japan).

“However, Hong Kong, Thailand, Kazakhstan and Indonesia will also be playing in the Asian Games and it’s good that we can analyse their game here,” added Dharmaraj.