No tourney for buddies
Fitri and Peillat will turn foes at Sultan Azlan Shah Cup
KUALA LUMPUR: Fitri Saari and Gonzalo Peillat are friends and teammates in the Malaysia Hockey League (MHL). But, they will turn foes at the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Ipoh from March 3-10.
While midfielder Fitri will be out to add bite to Malaysia’s-attack, Peillat – the world’s top penalty corner specialist – will be strutting his stuff for Argentina in the six-nation tournament.
Fitri formed an exciting combination-with Peillat for Terengganu in the MHL this year.
The Argentinian defender played a big role in Terengganu’s Premier Division league success in his MHL debut and even bagged the top scorer award with 16 goals.
Fitri said he looked forward to playing against his accomplished Terengganu teammate.
“He’s a great player and friend but I’ll be playing against him in Ipoh. It’ll be a challenge for the national team to stop him from scoring goals from his powerful drag flicks,” said Fitri, who has 103 international caps.
The 25-year-old Peillat has featured 130 times for Argentina and scored a whopping 150 goals. He netted 11 goals in Argentina’s gold-medal winning campaign in the 2016 Rio Olympics.
“He’ll be a star attraction in the tournament in Ipoh because of his prowess in drag flicks. We can’t afford to give away penalty corners against Argentina.”
Malaysia last played World No. 2 Argentina in the World League Semi-Finals in London last June. In the first match, Argentina outplayed world No. 12 Malaysia 5-2 with Peillat scoring four goals.
The other teams in the fray are world No. 1 and world champions Australia, world No. 6 and Asian champions India, England (7th) and Ireland (10th)
Fitri, featuring for the sixth time in the tournament, added that they would be out to defy the odds.
“We’re using the tournament as part of our preparation for the Commonwealth Games (in Gold Coast, Australia, in April),” said the industrious Fitri, a member of the Malaysian team that won the silver twice in 2013 and 2014.