MALAYSIA bounced back to edge an ultra-defensive Kazakhstan 2-1 in Saturday’s Women’s Hockey Asia Cup classification match in Kakamigahara, Japan.
K. Dharmaraj side will take on World No 31 Thailand, who overcame Singapore 4-3 in a penalty shootout after a 1-1 draw in relegation time, in Sunday’s classification match for fifth position.
For the record, Malaysia finished fifth in the last three editions.
World No 34 Kazakhstan took advantage of Malaysia’s defensive error to take the lead through Aigerim Makhanova in the 24th minute.
However, Nuraslinda Said responded with a goal from open play seven minutes later before captain Siti Ruhani Saptu converted a penalty corner in the 33rd minute to seal the match for World No 22 Malaysia.
Dharmaraj said Kazakhstan parked the bus in their semicircle on Saturday.
“Kazakhstan players were in their semicircle for most periods of the match and this made it very difficult for us to create opportunities,” Dharmaraj told Media Hockey Whatsapp Group.
“They only entered our semicircle once and scored from that one chance when Siti Rahman made a mistake.
“It was tense. Although, we continued to attack and create chances, we just could not finish them off. We also could not make use of our penalty corners as we scored only once from eight attempts.
“In the final quarter, I told my players to just defend our 2-1 lead as Kazakhstan players continued to crowd inside their semicircle.”
On Sunday’s match, Dharmaraj said Thailand are expected to be defensive like Kazakhstan.
“We need to take our chances tomorrow from both open play and penalty corners. It will be a challenge against Thailand. We need to be smart and patient in this match,” Dharmaraj added.
World No 8 China will attempt to win their third Asia Cup title when they face 12th-ranked India in the final on Sunday. In the semi-finals, China edged ninth-ranked South Korea 3-2 while India upset 11th-ranked Japan 4-2.