Malaysian Tigress began their journey in the Bihar Women’s Asian Champions Trophy Rajgir 2024 with a 0-4 defeat against defending champions India at the newly-developed Rajgir Hockey Stadium.
This is the fourth consecutive victory for the Indians against the Malaysians in the last two years.
Sangita Kumari scored a brace from a penalty corner and a field goal in the eighth and 55thminutes respectively, while Preeti Dubey (43rd) and Udita (44th) added to the Malaysian misery by converting penalty corners that saw the hosts start on the right foot under newly appointed coach Harendra Singh and new captain Salima Tete in front of a full capacity crowd.
The Indians, who aim to bury the ghosts of the past and start a new journey with Los Angeles2028 in focus, dominated this opening encounter of the tournament by earning 11 penalty corners and converting three, while the Tigress received one.
Malaysia’s head coach Nasihin Nubli Ibrahim said: “Overall, I am happy with the performance of the players against India. This team has been together since the tour of Wales a few months ago. As we all know India is among the favourites here and they are an experienced side. They also played in the FIH Pro League.”
“Our defence and tactical play were good as we did not allow India to score more goals. Goalkeeper Siti Zalia (Nasir) also played well. We had several opportunities to score but were off the mark. We played an attacking game in the third and fourth quarters but the Indians were disciplined in defence.
“We lost focus in the third quarter and that allowed India to score two penalty corner goals. Otherwise, it was a high intensity and exciting match,” he added.
Three Young Tigress namely Nurathirah FitriahSyamsul Adzuanizam, Nur Iman Adawiyah Mohd Suhaimi, and Nur Aisyah Che Musa earned their first international caps against India.
The Malaysians will next go into a contest against Paris Olympics silver medallist and World No 6 China on Nov 12 (Tuesday) followed by matches between Japan and Thailand, and India versus South Korea.
In other pool matches played on Monday, China trounced Thailand 15-0 while Japan and South Korea drew 2-2.
“We will analyse the video recording of the China-Thailand match in our preparation for the encounter against China. Today’s match against India was a good experience for all the players, especially the three national juniors. We hope to play a better and exciting game against China,” added Nasihin.