HANGZHOU, Oct 3 — After the national men’s hockey squad’s debacle, it was the turn of the women’s team to meet their match and were thrashed 0 – 5 by South Korea in the last Group A match of the 2022 Asian Games today.
The defeat puts the national squad in the group’s third place with seven points trailing India and South Korea in the first and second spots, respectively, with 10 points each, and they were separated by India’s 33 goals compared to 17 by South Korea.
In the match at the Gongshu Canal Sports Park Stadium, the squad under coach Mohd Nasihin Nubli Ibrahim conceded the goal galore to South Korea in the first quarter from a penalty corner taken by Cho Eunji in the 14th minute.
The pressure continued to pile up on Malaysia when An Sujin scored the second goal in the 25th minute before Seo Jungeun put South Korea in a comfortable 3 – 0 position with a field goal in the 36th minute.
South Korea continued to add to Malaysia’s suffering when An again scored via a penalty corner in the 38th minute before Lee Yuri completed the rout 10 minutes later. The result remained 0 – 5 until the final whistle.
Commenting on the match, Mohd Nasihin admitted the national team made several mistakes which opened opportunities for South Korea to score goals, even though the national team had worked hard to defend their goal.
“We expect South Korea to beat us, as South Korea is seen as a strong team globally, especially after they held India to a draw.
“In the first quarter, our player Nuramirah Shakirah Zulkifli was injured, which made it difficult for us to give fierce opposition to Korea, and a little mistake gave South Korea the space to score goals,” he said.
Mohd Nasihin added the national squad will take advantage of the experience against Korea to grab the fifth position against Thailand later and take advantage of the three days before the match to prepare adequately.
— Bernama
