SSMS bag men’s, women’s Hockey Open C’ship crowns
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Sports School Malaysia (SSMS) clinched the top podium finish at the Datuk Jumat Idris Cup 9-a-side Hockey Open Championship in Likas here yesterday.
Held at the Kota Kinabalu Sports Complex hockey stadium, SSMS won both the Men’s and Women’s titles following their final wins.
In the Men’s Open, the SSMS under-15 A squad showed their prowess against their much older opponents, Kota Kinabalu Hockey Association (KKHA) Senior, 5-4 after penalty stroke.
The game was tied at 0-0 in regulation time.
KKHA SAGA and Maktab Sabah B were the joint third place winners in the category.
In the Women’s final, it was an all-SSMS affair with the B team emerging victorious against their C squad.
As in the Men’s final, the women’s title decider were scoreless in regulation time but SSMS B were composed in the penalty stroke to register a 5-4 win.
Kota Belud Hockey Club and West Warrior settled for joint third place.
SSMS fruitful outing also saw them dominated the individual awards with Hamidi Jamaluddin and Muhammad Izaz Afdhaal Junaidi of SSMS U15 A winning the Best Goalkeeper and the final Man-of-the-Match in the Men’s Open respectively.
The other award for the Men’s category went to Ahmad Faizul Azar of KKHA Senior as the tournament’s Top Scorer with five goals.
SSMS bagged all three awards in the Women’s category - Flovenia Silverius (SSMS C) as the Top Scorer with six goals, SSMS B duo Mas Bethyina Muris (Best Goalkeeper) and Melicia John (final Man-of-theMatch).
Organised by KKHA, the two-day tournament attracted 18 men’s and 12 women’s teams from around the state.
Sepanggar Member of Parliament Datuk Jumat Idris’ special officer presented the prizes to the top winners. Among those present was KKHA president Dedi Saputra.