KUALA LUMPUR: The national women's under-18 team started their Asian Youth Olympic Hockey5s Qualifying campaign with a bang when they whipped Hong Kong 10-1 at the Queen Sirikit Stadium in Bangkok on Wednesday.
And the men also had a good win by hammering Cambodia 23-0.
The finallists in the men and women’s events will qualify for the Youth Olympics in Buenos Aries on Oct 6-18.
Putri Nur Batrisyia (first and 23rd minutes), Siti Zulaika Hussin (fourth, eighth and 18th), Nurmaizatul Hanim Syafi (fifth, 11th and 28th), and Siti Nur Arfah Nor (19th and 20th) scored for Malaysia.
Coach Yahya Atan said: "The big win is a good start for our campaign as the aim is to qualify for the Youth Olympics.
“The players adapted well to the 'new' concept of hockey5s and I believe they will not disappoint in the other matches as well."
"I am really proud of my players who not only claimed three points, but also won by a big margin. Tomorrow (Thursday), we will play China and I believe it would be our toughest match in the tournament.
"We need to tighten our game against China,” he said.
Fixtures
Thursday
Men — Malaysia v Taiwan (11am), Malaysia v Bangladesh (5pm).
Women — Malaysia v China (10am), Malaysia v Taiwan (6pm).