New Zealand finished first of pool A after grabbing their third successive win at the Pahang Hockey Champions Challenge 1 in Kuantan. A 3-2 win over France was enough for Korea to win pool B as Canada lost 4-3 to Malaysia. The quarter finals now see New Zealand facing Malaysia, Korea clashing with Japan, Ireland taking on France with Canada facing Poland.
In pool A the Black Sticks were too strong for Poland defeating them 8-3. Earlier, Ireland’s Green Machine had taken their first victory in this tournament after winning 1-0 against Japan’s Samurais. Ireland, Poland and Japan finished on three points each. Because of goal difference Ireland become second, Poland third and Japan fourth.
“We showed good improvement today” said Ireland coach Craig Fulton. “I hoped that we would score in the last quarter because my team worked so hard.” The Green Machine got the better end of Japan thanks to a late Alan Sothern strike. New Zealand showed why they are considered as favourites to win the tournament. The Black Sticks defeated Poland 8-3 with Simon Child, selected as the Man of the Match, contributing three goals.
Pool B sees Korea on top followed by Canada, France and Malaysia. The host nation achieved their first win in this tournament by defeating Canada 4-3. The winning goal was scored by Ahmad Jalil much to the delight of the enthusiastic crowd in the Stadium Wisma Belia. However, Malaysia remain bottom of pool B due to goal difference.
“If we had scored one more goal we would have avoided playing New Zealand in the quarter finals”, said Malaysia’s coach Muhammad Dhaarma Raj. “Today we played so much better than in our two previous matches.”
“We give full credit to Malaysia, they were too good today”, said Canada’s coach Anthony Farry. “They needed to win and this is what they did.”
Goals from Nam Hyun , Jang Jong Hyun and Kim Seong Kyu secured Korea’s narrow victory over France. While Korea will face their Asian rivals Japan in the quarter final, France will be taking on their European rivals Ireland.
For more information about the Pahang Hockey Champions Challenge 1 in Kuantan, please visit our official tournament event page by clicking here. The microsite will bring you all of the news coming from the event, including written match reports, action photos, official match documents, goal scoring statistics and much more.
