Saturday, March 30, 2019

28th Azlan Shah Cup: Gold for Smart Korea...

By Jugjet Singh

IPOH: South Korea played smart hockey to take the Azlan Shah Cup final into shoot out and then a stylish goal from skipper Lee Nam Young saw them lift the Azlan Shah Cup for the third time.
  The match ended 1-1, just like the pool stage, but in the end South Korea won the shoot-out 4-2.
  Nam Young took the final shoot-out, and charging in, he lifted the ball over the goalkeeper for victory.
  India took an early lead off Simranjeet Singh in the 9th minute, and held onto dear life until the last quarter.
  Korea never stopped presing, while also keeping India in check, and they were finally rewarded in the 47th minute, when they won a penalty stroke and Jang Jung Hyun almost tore the netting for the equaliser.
  The lucky strike took Korea into a shoot out.
  For the record, before the final, India had won four golds and shared one with South Korea (1985, 1991, 1995, 2009 and shared 2010 because of rain), while Korea had won in 1996 and shared the 2010 gold.
  PLACING: South Korea, India, Malaysia, Canada, Japan, Poland.
  Fairplay (Raja Ashman Shah Trophy): Japan.
  Man-of-the-Final: Jang Jung Hyun (Korea).
  Top Goal Scorer: Mandeep Singh (India) and Jang Jung Hyun (seven goals each).
  Best Goalkeeper: Kim Jae Hyeon (Korea).
  Player-of-the-Tournament: Surender Kumar (India).

Azlan Shah Cup: Malaysia win rare bronze..

By Jugjet Singh

IPOH: Malaysia won a rare Azlan Shah Cup bronze when they beat Canada 4-2 Saturday.
  It way way back in 1996 when the first bronze was wrestled away from Great Britain in a 4-3 penalty stroke competition, after the match ended 2-2.
  The second bronze should inspire Malaysia to do much better in the FIH Series Finals in Kuala Lumpur on April 26 to May 4.
  When Malaysian coach Roelant Oltmans was asked what positives his team will take into the pre-Olympic Qualifier, he was short and sharp.
  "Wait and see, wait for the tournament to answer your question.
  The other teams in this pre-Olympic Qualifier are not big guns and Malaysia even has the advantage as hosts.
  Group A is made up of Canada, Austria, Wales and Belarus.
  Malaysia are in Group B with China, Brazil and Italy.
  And it looks like Malaysia will play Canada again, if both teams enter the final.
  Mark Pearson scored a field goal in the 14th minute, and the capacity crowd went silent for a few minutes, until Nik Aiman Nik Rozemi equalised off a 23rd minute penalty corner.
  From then onwards, local boy Azrai Aizad Abu Kamal (29th), Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin (30th) and Faizal Saari (45th) made sure the bronze did not slip out of their grasps.
  James Wallaca narrowed the gap in the 59th minute, but the clock died on Canada's comeback aspirations.
  Malaysia failed against South Korea and India, but retained some pride when they beat Canada twice in a row.
  Penalty corners were a big letdown in both the crucial matches to take Malaysia higher up in the tournament.
  "We did have a good conversion rate in the other matches, but could have done better in the Korea and India matches. 
  "We will work on it, and Taeke Taekema (former world class Dutch flicker) will be back with goalkeepers coach Martijn Drijver (also from Netherlands) a week before the Series Finals," said Oltmans who also brought down both the Dutch legends for the Azlan Shah Cup.
   RESULTS: Final -- South Korea x India x; Third-Fourth: Malaysia 4 Canada 2; Fifth-Sixth: Japan 6 Poland 1.