KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 22 – Malaysia’s Men’s 60s and 40s masters’ teams produced their ‘greatest performance’ as they crushed Japan and Bangladesh respectively in the World Masters Hockey (WMH) Asian Championships 2023 at the Hong Kong Football Club on Tuesday.
Former national team skipper Sarjit Singh, who featured in the 1984 Los Angeles and 1992 Barcelona Olympics, led the 060s team to a rousing 6-1 victory over Japan – their second consecutive win after posting a 5-0 victory over Hong Kong a day earlier.
The 40s team, meanwhile, punctuated Bangladesh’s hopes with a 9-0 trouncing. They had on Monday secured a 4-0 win over Singapore.
The sun, however, did not shine on the men’s 50s side. They were held to a 2-2 draw by Hong Kong, a result that did not augur well for the Malaysians who on Monday had gone down 1-2 against Switzerland SoM.
Sarjit’s hat-trick included goals in the 8th, 15th and 68th minutes, taking his personal goal tally to eight in the tournament. Manjinder Singh (31st, FG), Inderjit Tara (58th, FG) and Raymond Tio Marks (63rd, PC) added to Japan’s misery with a piece each.
The Malaysians dominated the game and earned 11 penalty corners while the Japanese had three opportunities. Tetsushi Takeshita scored Japan’s consolation goal in the 69th minute.
The Malaysian side and Southern Cross SoM, an Australian-based organization that promotes international hockey for masters’ players, share six-equal points after two wins each.
However, Sarjit’s team top the table standings with more goals scored (10 against 6). Japan is in third position, and Hong Kong China reeling at the bottom with no points.
Malaysia and Southern Cross SoM will go into a showdown on Thursday.
The Malaysian men’s 40s team enjoyed the early share of ball possession and kept the pressure on Bangladesh. The efforts bore fruit immediately when Hairul Nizam, Khairuddin Mohd Ghani and Iman Gobinathan scored a brace each.
Midfielders P. Prabhu, V. Vasandan and Daniel Kassim also penned their names on the scoresheet. The Malaysians will now face Hong Kong China in a crucial match on Wednesday.
Hong Kong and Malaysia share six equal points, followed by Hong Kong SoM, Bangladesh and Singapore – all of whom have yet to win a game.
In the men’s 50s match, Louis Gregory (39th) and R. Chandrasegar (49th) fired the Malaysians to a 2-0 lead. However, Hong Kong stepped up the pressure and equalized through Shafiq Mirza (59th) and Ali Asghar (65th).
The Swiss head the table standings with six points after two matches, followed by Hong Kong (4 pts), Japan (3), Singapore (3), Malaysia (1). South Korea is at the basement with no point. The Malaysians take on Singapore on Wednesday and South Korea on Friday.
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