Malaysia Tigers and South Korea qualified for Saturday’s Men’s final in the 3rd NHDP Mirnawan Cup 2024 Under-17 championship at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil.
The Tigers drew 1-1 against Malaysia Speedy in full time of the first semi-final match before winning 3-1 in a penalty shootout. The Koreans, however, triumphed 4-3 over Austria, also in a penalty shootout, after a 2-2 draw in regulation time.
Muhammad Ashrafeel Iman fired Tigers ahead in the 15th minute with a penalty corner conversion. The Tigers were headed on the road to victory only to let their guard down in the last minute of regulation time that saw Amran Kashimi Ahmad Kamil score the equalizer that forced the match into a penalty shootout.
In the ensuing shootout, Muhammad Harith Afif, Aferull Syah and Rahuul Fazrien scored for the Tigers while Ariq Aidil Hakimi replied for Speedy.
Austria led 1-0 through Malik-Cosmo Mouritzen’s 18th minute field goal, but Park Jaehyeon equalized for Korea in the 25th minute before Julian Kaiser converted a penalty corner in the 48th minute to put his side 2-1 ahead.
However, with nine minutes remaining at the end of regulation time, Choe Dohyeon converted a penalty corner for the Koreans to level the score at 2-2, forcing a shootout.
The playoff for a bronze medal will be between Malaysia Speedy and Austria.
The women’s Under-17 final will be between Queensland and Japan. The Australians defeated the South Africans 3-1 while the Japanese secured a 2-1 victory over the Koreans.
Queensland led 2-1 at half-time through Aryel Bisseling’s field goal (4th) and Erin Arri’s penalty stroke conversion (11th). Caprice Bengtson pulled one back for South Africa (19th) but Caitlyn Halliday converted a penalty corner (47th) to give Queensland a deserving 3-1 victory.
The Japanese took a 1-0 lead through team captain Kokona Tanaka’s fourth minute penalty corner conversion, and Juri Ishihara extended the lead to 2-0 with a 32nd minute field goal. Yuri Jeong replied for the Koreans from a penalty corner in the 59th minute.
Meanwhile, South Africa and South Korea will play in the playoff for bronze medal on Saturday.
The National Hockey Development Programme (NHDP) is a hockey development program managed and deployed by the National Sports Council, Ministry of Education and the Malaysian Hockey Confederation.