Malaysia’s Young Tigers suffered another defeat – this time losing 1-3 to the senior Queensland Hockey Team in Brisbane today.
It was the Malaysian junior team’s fifth defeat in the series. They lost four consecutive matches against the Burras – the Australia junior side – with results of 2-4, 2-5, and 0-2 in the first three games, and 1-5 in the fourth match on Wednesday.
Muhammad Danish Aiman Khairil Anwar set the tone for the Young Tigers with a fourth minute field goal, but Queensland HT, which features several senior former international players and competes in the Australian Hockey League, bounced back with field goals in the 17th and 47th minutes, and a penalty corner conversion in the 49th minute.
The Malaysians will end their tour with a sixth and last match against Queensland HT on Aug 5.
“Queensland HT is one of the top teams and they play in the Australian Hockey League. It is very encouraging to see our young players who are here to gain experience break the ice early in the match to take a 1-0 lead,” said national junior assistant coach I. Vikneswaran.
“We took the lead but they came back strongly and gave us a lot of physical challenges. Overall, given that the players need all the exposure and experience on this tour, they gave a decent performance,” he added.
Despite the defeat, the Young Tigers showed they had the character to frustrate their opponents.
The truth is winning matches against Australian teams in their own backyard was never an easy feat by visiting teams. This Brisbane tour is not all about winning results.
“We are here to prepare the national juniors for the upcoming 2024 Sultan of Johor Cup (SOJC) International Invitational tournament (Oct 18-26) and the Junior Asia Cup (JAC) in December.
“The JAC will serve as a qualifying event for the 2025 Junior World Cup in India. The exposure and experience gained here was immense and benefited the players,” added Vikneswaran.
Every match is a learning curve for the Malaysians and Vikneswaran hopes the players will continue improving in the last match of the tour against Queensland HT on Aug 5.