Match 14 - Thailand v Malaysia
6th Asia Cup Women's Hockey Championship - Thailand v Malaysia ( 0 : 7 )
Match Review
Day 6
Match 1, Thailand vs Malaysia pool A.
Malaysia went into this pool A fixture against Thailand as overwhelming favourites given the Thais lack of international experience.
But from the opening whistle of the game it was immediately apparent that Thailand was not going to lie down against the 5th ranked side in the competition. The Malaysians are known the region as a physical side and to see the Thai players giving as good as they received in the early encounters in the match was an eye opener.
As expected Malaysia went on the offensive early and scored 2 goals in the first half through Kannagi Arumugam and Siti Ramah Othman in the 6th and 21st minutes.The Thai defence held up well thoughout the half with goal keeper Jesdaporn Tongsun putting in an impressive performance to keep the half time score down to just 2-0 in favour of Malaysia.
But midway through the second half the lack of experience began to show as Thailand wilted under sustained pressure from Malaysia. And inevitably the score began to mount as the Malaysian forwards started to punch holes in the tired Thailand defence with the third Malaysian goal coming in the 48th minute when Nadia Abdul Rahman converted a penalty corner.
Malaysia managed score four more goals in the closing stages of the match to make the final score 7-0.
For the compeition starved Thais the results in the tournament to date have been impressive with players not afraid to stand up to the big guns in all their games.
Malaysia have finished third in pool A behind India and China with Thailand 4th. Malaysia face bottom ranked Chinese Taipei from pool B in Saturday's opening classification match while Thailand will play Hong Kong who finished 3rd in pool B.
Result: Malaysia 7 (Goal scorers : Siti Ramah Othman 2, Kannagi Arumugam 2, Nadia Abdul Rahman 2, Sylvester Fazilla Silin. Thailand 0