High and low for FT

FEDERAL Territories suffered contrasting fates in hockey yesterday, where their men were finally held to a draw but their women powered into the semi-finals with two matches in hand.

Both played Pahang, with the men drawing 2-2, and the FT women winning 4-0.

The FT women had beaten Sabah 1-0 and Sarawak 5-2 for maximum points after three matches. They will play Terengganu tomorrow, followed by Kedah to complete their group fixtures.

The FT women are defending champions, while their men last won in 2010.

Women’s coach K. Kanagi believes even though they have qualified for the semis and are on target to defend their title, they must beat Terengganu to maintain their momentum.

“We have a day’s rest before we take on Terengganu, who I believe are our strongest opponents in Group A. After that, we have a relatively easier match against Kedah before we move into the knock-out stage,” said Kanagi.

As for the Pahang men, coach Mohamed Sufian’s young talents have drawn twice with the early favourites — 2-2 against Terengganu and FT as well. They beat Selangor 20 for five points in Group B.

“We took a 2-0 lead against FT but the inexperience of my young players showed up after that and we were held to a draw. However, we came in knowing well that the challenge for us in Group B will come from Terengganu and FT and the plan was not to lose both matches but take away at least one point and we achieved it.

“Now, we need to beat Negri Sembilan (today) to have a chance of playing in the semi-finals,” said Sufian.

FT coach K. Rajan was not overly worried with the result: “Every team normally have one bad day in the office and I believe ours was against Pahang. We are still on track to play in the semis and that’s what we aim to do.”

Pahang scored off Syamil Azim(34th) and Kamil Yusop (50th). FT drew level with goals from Mohamed Fitri (56th) and Mohamed Amirol (65th).

As for the women, the FT goals were scored by Nurfarah Syahira (13th, 69th) and Nur Zafirah Aziz (25th, 50th).