Host Malaysia got off to a brilliant start in their defence of the Men’s Junior Asia Cup with a 4-0 demolition of China in a Group A match at the Wisma Belia Hockey Stadium.
Arul Selvaraj’s Malaysia cracked the whip early with penalty corner goals from Najmi Jazlan (14th) and Shahril Saabah (21st) to a rousing welcome from an estimated 1,500 fans in this opening day of the eighth edition of the championship with the final scheduled on Nov 22.
The Chinese, who were edged out of the semi-finals by Pakistan at the last edition of Asia’s premier junior tournament in 2012 in the Malaysian historical city of Malacca, were further crucified with a 43rd minute field goal from Man of the Match award winner Muhammad Haziq Samsul and Nazmi returned in the 69th minute to hit the final nail as the Malaysians eked out a 4-0 victory.
“We missed out on many penalty corner opportunities but nevertheless this victory was in line with our target of winning this opening game. We are braced for a tough and important match against India on Sunday,” said Arul, adding that they intend to turn the tables on India this time around.
Malaysia suffered a 2-1 defeat against India in the Sultan of Johor Cup last month and eventually settled for a bronze medal.
“Looking back, we have come a long way in terms of improvements in the side after the SOJC tournament and I am confident our match against India will be deciding factor in our main target of reaching the semi-finals here.”
China picked three penalty corners throughout the match against Malaysia’s six but their forwards Li Zecheng, Meng Li and Meng Wei were off target while on the opposite end the Malaysians could not get past goalkeeper Ao Zhiwei in two of the six attempts.
China’s team manager, Yang Liu, said: “The players gave their best and had the game in control until we cracked under pressure. Hopefully we can amend our result today by taking points against Japan tomorrow.”
The top four teams in the 8th Men’s Junior Asia Cup will qualify for the Junior World Cup in New Delhi, India next year.