By Tony Mariadass

Malaysia stood their ground with Azrai Abu Kamal’s field goal in the second quarter to defeat Korea 1-0 in their final group stage match in the Asian Champions Trophy (ACT) hockey tournament at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium in Chennai last night.

With four victories from five games, Malaysia jumped to the top of the table standings with 12 points ahead of India(10), who play Pakistan in their final league stage game later tonight.

India who were leading 2-0 at halftime against Pakistan look set to top the table, while Korea dropped to fourth spot should end third, while Japan will edge Pakistan to the fourth spot.

Malaysia scored when Abdu Muhajir plays a pass to Ashran Hamsami on the right baseline before he it in front of goal where an unmarked Abu Kamal sounds the board in the 22 nd minute.

“ It was a good controlled and disciplined performance by the team. They really defended well. Of course we got few cards and I was upset, but I have to listen to the players too, because the was crowd was loud and sometimes the players cannot hear the whistle and that can happen.

“But we have to learn from that as well,” said national coach Arul Anthoni after the victory over Korea to Apa Khabar.

Among those who picked up green cards in the first quarter itself included Malaysian captain Marhan Jalil and Amirul Azahar.

“And that we had scored eight field goals so far and the most field goals scored by any team in the tournament. It is very encouraging but we have to continue to work a bit more to be sharper in our penalty corners.

“Our target is still the same. We have after taking a game at a time reached the semifinals. We are that we have reached the semifinals as our first target.

“And we go to play well and get into the final. The focus has never changed and will change. Our target is always the Asian Games gold in Hangzhou next month.

So we are working everything towards the Asian Games.”

Malaysia have picked up one injury in Syafiq Hassan (knee injury) against India and Najib Abu Hassan has replaced him.

Previous Matches (since 1996) against Korea – 9 Wins 30%; 5 Draws 16.67%; 16 Losses 53.33%

Most Recent Results:

4 th Dec 2022 FIH Hockey Men;s Nation Cup South Korea Msia 0 Kor 4

28 th Nov 2022 (same tournament) Msia 0 Korea 1

10 th Nov 2022 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup final Msia 3 Korea 2

1 st Nov 2022 (same tournament) Msia 0 Korea 3

Asian Champions Trophy 2023 hockey group stage results and scores:

August 3, Thursday
Korea 2 Japan 1
Malaysia 3 Pakistan 1
India 7 China 2

August 4, Friday
Korea 1 Pakistan 1
China 1 Malaysia 5
India 1 Japan 1

August 6, Sunday
China 1 Korea 1
Pakistan 3 Japan 3
Malaysia 0 India 5

August 7, Monday
Japan 1 Malaysia 3
Pakistan 2 China 1
Korea 2 India 3

August 9, Wednesday
Japan 2 China 1
Malaysia 1 Korea 0
India vs Pakistan

Asian Champions Trophy 2023 hockey knockout/classification round:

August 11, Friday
Fifth place game – Fifth in group vs Sixth in group
Semi-final 1 – Second in group vs Third in group
Semi-final 2 – First in group vs Fourth in group

August 12, Saturday
Third place game – Loser semi-final 1 vs Loser semi-final 2
Final – Winner semi-final 1 vs Winner semi-final 2