Perak beat Perlis, Terengganu suffer shock loss to Penang

KUALA LUMPUR: Defending champions Perak and runners-up Terengganu got off to contrasting starts in the National Under-16 boys hockey tournament.

Perak left it late to pick up a 2-0 win over Perlis but Terengganu were served a stunner as they fell 2-0 to a spirited Penang.

Perak looked to be suffering from first match jitters as they fired blanks in the first half at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil yesterday.

But they came alive in the sec-

ond half as field goals from Muhamat Farhan Haziq (39th min) and Muhd Amirul Haniff (57th) gave them a winning start in Group A.

“It was a stressful match for me as my boys played below par,” said Perak coach Abdul Shukor Adam.

“We only had 10 minutes to warm up due to a slight rain. We’ll improve after taking the win today.

“We do have a team that can mount a serious challenge in defending our title.

Perak will play Negri Sembilan today.

Meanwhile, Terengganu looked a pale shadow of themselves as they fell to a surprise 2-0 defeat to Penang in Group B.

Coached by brothers Jiwa and Jivan Mohan, the islanders scored an early goal through Muhd Najmi Irfan to settle quickly into the match.

They managed to repel Terengganu’s attacks and Faris Harizan’s goal off a counter-attack in the 38th minute sealed the win.

“It was a patchy game but I thought we settled down quicker compared to Terengganu,” said former national player Jiwa.

“We won but its not the best performance by my boys and there is a lot of improvement needed.

“We need to work on our penalty corner conversion. We had five penalty corners but couldn’t convert a single one.