Malaysia Fails To Maintain Winning Form In Asian Champions Trophy Competition

KUALA LUMPUR, May 18 (Bernama) -- Malaysia gave a stiff competition before losing 2-3 to defending champion, India in the final preliminary round of the Women Asian Champions Trophy Hockey Tournament at the Sunrise Stadium, Donghae, South Korea on Thursday. It was the third loss suffered by the Malaysian Tigress squad after losing 1-3 both to South Korea as well as China in two earlier matches. Malaysia, however, recorded their maiden victory after beating Japan 3-2 in the third match yesterday. In the match on Thursday, the national women hockey squad managed by Muhammad Dharma Raj Abdullah was trailing after Gurjit Kaur scored in the 17th and Vandana Katariya in the 33rd minutes. Malaysia came back to narrow down the deficit through a penalty corner stroke from Nuraini Rashid in the 36th minute before India tightened its stranglehold through a field goal by Lalremsiami in the 40th ​​​​​​​minute. Hanis Nadiah Onn reduced further the goal deficit for the national squad through a field goal in the 48th minute. Meanwhile, South Korea confirmed their slot for the final after beating 2016 runners-up, China 3-1 in an earlier match at the same venue. -- BERNAMA