Najmi Farizal Jazlan scored two goals tonight as defending champions Malaysia, defeated Indonesia 5-4 in a thrilling encounter and advanced to the next stage of the round-robin competition of the Men’s Indoor Hockey Asia Cup in Taldykorgan, Kazakhstan.
The Malaysians, thus, maintained an unbeaten record of two wins and a draw in Pool B, amassing seven points to currently lead the table standings – three points ahead of Kazakhstan who go into a showdown with Oman in a late match tonight.
The Kazakhs will aim to win big over Oman to go top of the standings, pushing the Malaysians into second spot. Under the new format, the two top teams in each group will advance to the round-robin competition, and the top-performing teams will then qualify for the final.
Malaysia’s head coach Mohamad Rodzhanizam Mat Radzi, said: “It was a thrilling match and the players gave their very best. I am very excited with this close victory. We will meet Thailand on Thursday in the Pool C match first followed by Iran.
“We need to come up with solid game plans against both teams. The Iranians have been playing very well, and so are the Thais. Our players are determined to win both matches, that is our mission here,” added Rodzhanizam.
Defender Najmi lifted Malaysia’s spirits with a penalty corner conversion goal in the fourth minute while midfielder Firdaus Omar extended the lead to 2-0 via a field goal in the ninth minute.
The Speedy Tigers continued to dominate the match and were rewarded a penalty stroke in the 20th minute. A confident Aslam Hanafiah was flawless to put his side 3-0 ahead. Indonesia also earned a penalty corner in the 24th minute and Revo Priliandro converted to reduce the deficit to 3-1.
A seventh penalty corner that came Malaysia’s way in the 29th minute saw Najmi push the lead to 4-1. However, the Indonesians came strongly in the last two quarters with a Muhamad Alfiana brace (31st, 32nd minutes) to close the gap at 4-3 before Faridzul extended it to 5-3 (35th).
As the clock ticked away, the Indonesians went firing on all cylinders and Adi Leksono’s 37th minute field goal saw the 2023 Sea Games gold medallist end their journey in the pool match with a 4-5 defeat, a result that propelled the Malaysians into the round-robin Pool C stage.
In earlier Pool B matches played in the afternoon, the Malaysians staged a late fightback to hold Kazakhstan to a 3-3 draw in regulation time.
The hosts took the early initiative to go 1-0 ahead through Tashkeyev Yermek’s second minute field goal before Mohd Faridzul Afiq restored parity for the Malaysians by converting a penalty corner in the 15th minute.
Kazakhstan extended the lead to 3-1 via Tashkeyev’s brace from a penalty corner conversion (17th minute), and a Duisengazy Agymtay field goal in the 34th minute.
But the Speedy Tigers gave a splendid performance as the match headed towards the end of regulation time with two penalty corner goals from Muhammad Najmi Farizal Jazlan (38th and 39th minutes) who plucked the Malaysians from the jaws of defeat to force a 3-3 draw.
In Group A, eight-time champions Iran trounced cannon fodders Tajikistan 37-0, and Thailand defeated Singapore 4-2.
This was the biggest defeat by Tajikistan, a country in central Asia and known for its rugged mountains, in the tournament. They had earlier suffered humiliating defeats against Thailand (1-19) and Singapore (2-15).
