Hockey strikers get the stick for firing blanks

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian strikeforce have been a disappointment in the last two matches of the men’s Asian Champions Trophy hockey tournament in Muscat, Oman.

National coach Roelant Oltman’s forward line, led by the nippy Faizal Saari, fired blanks against defending champions India on Tuesday and Pakistan on Thursday in the six-nation tournament.

Malaysia were held 0-0 by India but edged 1-0 by two-time champions Pakistan. Muhammad Irfan Junior scored Pakistan’s solitary goal in the 53rd minute at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex.

Apart from Faizal, Malaysia’s other forwards are Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin Tengku Abdul Jalil, Muhd Firhan Ashaari, Muhd Shahril Saabah and Nik Muhd Aiman Nik Rozemi.

Pakistan are also in the same group as Malaysia in the World Cup in Bhubaneswar, India, from Nov 28Dec 16.

The other teams in the same group with Malaysia are Holland and Germany. Malaysia’s defeat to Pakistan in Oman was their first loss in the ongoing Asian Champions Trophy.

Both teams are tied on 10 points after five matches but Pakistan finished second ahead of Malaysia in the standings on better goal difference.

World No. 12 Malaysia face Pakistan again in the semi-finals today. Malaysia’s loss to Pakistan in Oman was their second defeat this year to the world No. 13. They also clashed in the Asian Games in Jakarta in August, where Pakistan won 4-1 in a group match.

India topped the Asian Champions Trophy standings with 13 points from four wins and a draw and they face Asian Games gold medallists Japan, who finished fourth with seven points from five matches, in the other semi-final.

In the round-robin match, twotime champions India trounced Japan 9-0.

The 64-year-old Oltmans, who was hired on Oct 1 to help Malaysia qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, said the sport is very simple as “you can’t win matches if you don’t score.”

“We didn’t score in the last two matches. One time without conceding a goal against India and one time we didn’t put enough effort into our counter-attacks,” said Oltmans.

“I believe we’ll see a match with a different pace in the semi-finals. And I’m convinced we’ll score goals in the upcoming match.”