KUALA LUMPUR: National women’s hockey team head coach Mohd Nasihin Nubli Ibrahim is confident that his charges can recover from their group losses to win the classification match against Italy in the 2024–25 FIH Nations Cup 2 in Poland on Saturday.
Mohd Nasihin urged the squad, dubbed the Malaysian Tigress, not to give up hope when they play in the 5th-8th placing classification match.
“I’m satisfied with the players’ performance. We saw improvement from the first match to the second, and in yesterday’s game, they played very well and gave their all. I’m impressed with the fighting spirit shown by the squad.
“There is still room to improve in terms of controlling the game’s tempo. We don’t need to follow the opponents’ rhythm too much, and we must be more disciplined,” he said in a video message shared by the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) today.
The Malaysian Tigress continued to face disappointment after falling 4–2 to Uruguay in their third and final Group A match yesterday.
The result left Malaysia at the bottom of the group table without a single point, while Uruguay topped the group with seven points, followed by Poland (seven points) and South Africa (three points).
Malaysia began their campaign in the inaugural edition of the FIH Nations Cup 2 on the wrong footing, losing 0–2 to Poland, followed by a 1–3 defeat to South Africa on Tuesday.
