THE national women’s hockey team’s dream of reaching the final of the 2024 Women’s Asian Champions Trophy (ACT) was dashed after a 1-3 loss to China in the semi-finals at the Bihar University of Sports Hockey Stadium, India, today.
In the match, China made a strong start by scoring three goals in the first half through Deng Qiuchan’s field goal in the 10th minute and penalty corner goals by Fan Yunxia and Tan Jinzhuang in the 17th and 23rd minutes, respectively.
Nasihin Nubli’s squad managed to score a solitary goal in the second half, courtesy of Khairunnisa Ayuni Mohd Sharuddin, who converted a penalty corner in the 36th minute.
With the defeat, the Malaysian Tigress will play in the third and fourth-place playoff tomorrow against either India or Japan, who are set to clash in the other semi-final later today.
The Malaysian women’s hockey team’s performance in this edition is commendable, having improved on their fifth-place finish from the previous edition.
Meanwhile, Nasihin praised his team’s performance despite the loss to China.
He noted that the team displayed a much-improved style of play compared to their earlier encounter with China in the round-robin stage of the same tournament.
“Although we lost, the players gave their best, and we could see that the team had numerous scoring opportunities. Today’s match was different from the earlier one, as we dominated possession and made it difficult for China to attack us.
“Credit goes to all the players, including the younger ones, for working hard and showing that we are at a good level for future matches. I hope the players recover well, and for tomorrow’s third-place playoff, we will work hard to secure a podium finish,” he said in an audio recording shared by the Malaysian Hockey Confederation.
