Azuan rues narrow loss to Thailand in Games debut
STRIKER Muhamad Azuan Abdul Rasiad had a debut to forget in fivea- side football ( visuallylly impaired) at the 2017 Kual la Lumpur Asean Para Games.
Although the 29-year-old scored a goal, Malaysia still went down 1-2 to Thailand inn their opening game at the e National Hockey Stadium inn Bukit Jalil yesterday.
Thailand took the lead ad through Kittikorn Baodee in the fifth minute before Azuan equalised in the 16th minute.
Kittikorn was on target again in the 29th minute to give Thailand all three points.
Azuan, who has had to wait for two years to make his maiden appearance in the Asean Para Games due to an injury, was disappointed with the loss.
“I’m glad I finally got to play in the Asean Para Games after missing out on the Singapore Games after breaking my arm when my teammate fell on me during training,” said the Universiti Malaya student.
“I’m happy I managed to score in my debut game but I’m disappointed with the result. I should have done better with my chances. I hope I can improve in our other matches.”
Despite the defeat, Malaysia can stillstil advance to the final if they fiinish in the top two of the four-fteam round-robin competition.p
The other two teams are VietnamV and Laos.
Skipper Amirul Arif Maahadhir is confident they can bouunce back against Vietnam in theirthei second match today. “Our defence was a bit disorganised today. Maybe it’s because we had some new players in the team. We will work on sorting out our defensive frailties,” said the 24-yearold.
“All is not lost for us. We can still advance to the final if we win the remaining matches. We will get our revenge against Thailand in the final.”
Malaysian coach Sunny Shalesh, who felt that the Thais adapted faster to the pitch, said they will now focus on beating Vietnam today.
“The field was wet and our players had problems controlling the ball.
“The ball’s sound was also muffled by the heavy pitch,” said Sunny, who led Malaysia to the gold at the 2015 Singapore Asean Para Games.