Goalkeeper Muhammad Zaimi Mat Deris’ heroics acts failed to stop China from registering a 4-2 victory against Malaysia in the 2024 Asian Champions Trophy tournament at the Moqi Hockey Training Base in Hulunbuir, Inner Mongolia, China.
The 27-year-old Zaimi was in his element against China when he saved several goal-scoring targets, and one of the two penalty strokes in the match.
For the record, the Malaysians defeated China 5-1 in the 2023 edition of the ACT. It was Malaysia’s first defeat in the 2024 ACT today after holding Pakistan to a 2-2 draw in the opening match last Sunday.
Sarjit Singh’s Speedy Tigers will take a break tomorrow before facing the might of two-time Olympic bronze medalist and four-time ACT champions India on Wednesday (Sept 11).
The Indians currently lead the table standings with six points followed by China (3), Korea (2), Pakistan (2), Malaysia (1) and Japan (1). Craig Fulton’s side clamped Japan enroute to a 5-1 victory. The Indians scored through Sukhjeet Singh (2nd, 60th), Abhishek (3rd), Sanjay (17th) and Uttam Singh (54th).
Former champions Pakistan and South Korea settled for a 2-2 draw.
“This is not the result that we had anticipated. The players made a lot of mistakes that resulted in China taking advantage and score field goals and penalty corner conversions,” said Sarjit, adding that the Speedy Tigers failed to take the many goal-scoring opportunities and were not clinical enough in the semi-circle.
“The team will have to take responsibility for not taking the chances that came their way. In terms of ball possession, we were better (54%) than China (48%). But when you don’t score this is the end result,” he added.
2024
Both Malaysia and China started sharply in the first quarter with forays on either flank. The Speedy Tigers won back-to-back penalty corners in the sixth minute but Faizal Saari couldn’t convert the pressure into goals.
With the Malaysians reduced to 10-men in the seventh minute of play following a two-minute suspension of Najib Hassan for an infringement, the Chinese took complete control and advantage of the situation to go 1-0 ahead through a penalty corner converted by Gao Jiesheng.
The Speedy Tigers, however, went on an aggressive mode after the setback and responded well. They started playing a fast counter-attack game and were rewarded in the 14th minute following a well-orchestrated pass by Muhajir Abdu Rauf to Azrai Aizad Abu Kamal near the baseline who executed his 3D skills to manoeuvre past two defenders before placing the ball past goalkeeper Wang Weiho0 and into the net for the equaliser.
China’s domination continued in the third quarter by scoring two more goals. Gao’s scored a brace in the 32nd minute via a penalty corner conversion and Lin Chengliang celebrated a 40th minute field goal as the World No 23rd ranked Chinese side went on to grab a 3-1 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Malaysia’s top goal poacher Faizal reduced the deficit to 2-3 with a penalty corner conversion goal in the 50th minute but that did not help the Speedy Tigers who eventually went down 2-4 to a Chao Jieming’s penalty stroke in the 56th minute.