Singapore (31 Oct, 2016): Korea and India may have made great starts in the Women Asian Champions Trophy but the Malaysians have found their confidence and rhythm here at the Sengkang Hockey in Singapore.
And Malaysia Tigress head coach K. Dharmaraj is looking at his players taking the bull by the horn against the Indians.
“We will continue to play an attacking game against India as we did against Korea and China. There will be no turning back,” said Dharmaraj on the eve of the 21-ranked Malaysians clash against the Indians, who are ranked 12th in the world.
“All four teams are World Cup and Olympic materials. In fact the Indians and Koreans have an almost full squad that competed in the Rio Olympics while China and Japan have made some changes to the team. We respect our opponents but we should also play our best against them,” he added.
Malaysia Tigress lost 2-5 against Korea in their WACT opening match on Saturday and went down 1-3 against China on Sunday. Dharmaraj, however, is satisfied with the way the Malaysian eves played against China despite the defeat.
“They had a very good game against China. We took an early lead before China equalised by the end of the second quarter and scored two goals in three minutes to the end. There was a lapse in concentration on our part that allowed China to come back. The experience here will good for them. It is a learning process for the players,” said Dharmaraj.
The Indian women’s team came back from a goal down to defeat South Korea 2-1 in their second match in the 2016 Asian Champions on Sunday. India started their campaign with a 2-2 draw against Japan.
South Korea’s Eesul Baek scored the first goal in the 28th minute but India fought back late in the o game. Rani scored the equalising goal from a penalty corner in the the 47th minute and then with six minutes to go, Deepika gave her team the win with a field goal.
China, ranked 8th in the world, and 10-ranked Japan will play in their second match of the Champions Trophy on Tuesday.
The Indians lead the table standings on four points from two matches followed by Korea and China on three-equal points and Japan in fourth spot with one point while Malaysia Tigress are at the bottom with no points.
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