RARE BRONZE FOR MALAYSIA

Oltmans’ boys breathe huge sigh of relief after edging Canadians

MALAYSIA won a rare Azlan Shah Cup bronze when they defeated Canada 4-2 in Ipoh yesterday. In 1996, Malaysia won their first bronze by edging Britain 4-3 on penalty strokes after a 2-2 draw in regulation time.

The achievement should inspire Malaysia to do much better in the FIH Series Finals in Kuala Lumpur on April 26-May 4.

When Malaysia coach Roelant Oltmans was asked about the positives his team will take into the Series Finals, he was

short and sharp.

“Wait and see, wait for the tournament to answer your question,” he said yesterday.

The other teams in the Series Finals, which doubles up as an Olympic qualifier, are not big guns and Malaysia have the advantage as hosts.

Group A is made up of Canada, Austria, Wales and Belarus. Malaysia are in Group B with China, Brazil and Italy.

And it looks like Malaysia will play Canada again if both teams enter the final.

Mark Pearson scored a field goal in the 14th minute, and the capacity crowd went silent until Nik Aiman Nik Rozemi equalised off a 23rd-minute penalty corner.

Azrai Aizad Abu Kamal (29th), Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin Tengku Abdul Jalil (30th) and Faizal Saari (45th) made sure the bronze did not slip out of their grasps.

James Wallaca narrowed the gap in the 59th minute, but the clock died on Canada’s comeback aspirations.

Malaysia failed against South Korea and India, but retained some pride when they beat Canada twice in a row.

Penalty corners were a big letdown in both crucial matches to take Malaysia higher up in the tournament.

“We did have a good conversion rate in the other matches, but could have done better in the Korea and India matches.

“We will work on it, and Taeke Taekema (former Dutch flicker) will be back with goalkeeper coach Martijn Drijver (also from the Netherlands) before the Series Finals,” Oltmans added.

RESULTS — Final: South Korea 1 India 1 (Korea win 4-2 on penalties) Third-Fourth: Malaysia 4 Canada 2; Fifth-Sixth:

Poland 1.