KUALA LUMPUR: The dream of the national women’s hockey squad of advancing to the semi-finals of the 2024-25 Nations Cup 2 was dashed after suffering a second consecutive defeat in Group A match, losing 1-3 to South Africa, in Walcz, Poland, Tuesday.
Malaysia, who started strongly with a field goal by Dayang Nuramirah Abang Mahadini in the 11th minute, failed to maintain the advantage when the opposing team equalised through a field goal by Ntsopa Mokoena, a minute before the end of the first half.
South Africa needed only two minutes after the second half resumed to widen the gap when Onthatile Zulu scored a field goal before Hannah Pearce sealed their victory by converting a penalty corner in the 49th minute.
Through a video shared by the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC), Malaysian Tigress head coach, Mohd Nasihin Nubli Ibrahim, remains proud of his team’s commitment and high discipline who managed to put pressure on South Africa to take the lead before a few mistakes opened the way for the 21st ranked team in the world to come back and defeat them.
Although the path to the semi-finals has been buried, Mohd Nasihin hopes that his team, ranked 24th in the world, can provide fierce resistance in the final group match against Uruguay, tomorrow.
The result saw Malaysia occupy the bottom position in Group A without any points while hosts Poland are at the top after collecting four points, followed by Uruguay also with four points and South Africa in third place with three points.
Yesterday, Malaysia opened the inaugural edition of the Nations Cup 2 campaign on the wrong footing after losing 0-2 to Poland.
Only the top two teams from each group advance to the semi-finals while the champions of the 2024-25 Nations Cup 2 automatically qualify for the 2025-26 Nations Cup.
