Aussie coach impressed by Dharmaraj’s women

AUSTRALIA coach Paul Gaudoin praised his Malaysian counterpart, K. Dharmaraj for his team’s positive turnaround in women’s hockey on Wednesday.

The World No 4 were expecting a breeze but the Malaysians made them struggle for the 3-0 win in the opening Pool B match of the World League Semi-Finals in Brussels.

“Malaysia have shown tremendous progress since we last played them at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. They are a competitive side,” said Gaudoin.

“Malaysia have a promising batch of players with talent. In the 2014 Commonwealth Games, we dominated the game and won 4-0. But this time, it was different. I wish Malaysia well in women’s hockey.”

Australia depended on their prowess in penalty corner conversions for goals. Maddy Fitzpatrick scored a brace in the fourth and 44th minutes before Georgina Morgan added a third in the final minute of the match.

Despite playing against a physical side, World No 22 Malaysia managed to match Australia with their superior fitness and wellstructured game which was tight at the back.

“We showed today that we can match higher ranked teams in women’s today. My girls fought and did not give up. We were unlucky not to score from our opportunities.

“The promising performance has given my players the confidence and self-belief to make inroads. We hope to achieve our target of winning at least a match here,” Dharmaraj told www.mhc.org.my.

Malaysia were playing Spain in a late match yesterday.

RESULTS — Pool A: China 2 Italy 2, Netherlands 4 Scotland 0, South Korea 0 Italy 0.

Pool B: Australia 3 Malaysia 0, New Zealand 1 Spain 0.

TOMORROW — Pool A: China v Netherlands (12am), Scotland v South Korea (2am).

Pool B: Australia v Spain (8pm), Belgium v New Zealand (10pm). Ajitpal Singh