Malaysia’s Young Tigers fell to Sufyan Khan’s hat-trick, bowing 1-4 against World No. 9 Pakistan in the Men’s Junior Asia Cup in Oman on Sunday (Dec 1).
The defeat remains bad news. However, the good news is that the World No.11-ranked Malaysians qualified for the FIH Men’s Junior World Cup 2025 in India.
The Pakistanis continued their dominant performance with an unbeaten run of four matches, while Bangladesh and China played to a 1-1 draw in the conclusion of Pool B fixtures.
Pakistan tops the pool with 12 points – five points ahead of the Malaysians. Bangladesh is in third spot (5 points), followed by China (4 pts) and Oman at the bottom with no point.
Despite the defeat, the Malaysians will join Pakistan, defending champions India and Japan in the Dec 3 semifinals stage. The Young Tigers will face the Indians, and the Pakistanis will entertain the Japanese in the semi-finals.
National junior head coach I. Vikneswaran, said: “We had everything going on our side. We had more penalty corners (5 against 3), took control of the game, and most importantly we took the fight to the Pakistanis. The players played their hearts out in this match.”
“We also achieved our KPI of qualifying for the 2025 Junior World Cup by reaching the semi-finals. Don’t forget that Pakistan had seven senior national players in their side in this match, and we only had one in the form of Azimuddin Syakir Kamaruddin.”
“Most of Pakistan’s players have played in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in the last three editions while the majority of our players have played in this year’s edition only. Taking all this into consideration, I applaud the players for their commitment. It was unfortunate that we could not convert a penalty stroke early in the game. It can happen to anyone,” added Vikneswaran.
The Indians continued their winning ways with a 8-1 mauling of South Korea to top Pool A with 12 points. Japan demolished Thailand 9-1 to finish second in the pool on nine points.
The Malaysians had the first opportunity to score two minutes into the match when they were awarded a penalty stroke, but unfortunately Mohammad Harris Iskandar Osman’s flick was saved by goalkeeper Muhammad Janjua.
Pakistan’s drag-flick specialist Sufyan then took over the baton and gave the Green Shirts the lead in the third minute through a penalty corner conversion. Muhammad Adam Ashraf Mohd Johari restored parity for the Malaysians in the 26th minute via a field goal.
But the 19-year-old Sufyan did not stop there. The FIH Rising Star of the Year 2024 Award winner showed aggression in the third and fourth quarters with a penalty corner strike (35th) and a penalty stroke conversion (58th) after Abdul Qayyum had extended the lead to 3-1 in the 51st minute from a field goal.
