Hockey juniors lose all three friendlies in India
KUALA LUMPUR: The national juniors ended their three-match friendly against their Indian counterparts on a losing note.
Malaysia lost 2-1 in the third and last match at the Major Dhyan Chand Hockey Stadium in New Delhi on Monday.
India took the lead through a Ramandeep Singh field goal in the 18th minute before K. Dharmaraj’s boys equalised in 65th minute through Mohd Haziq Samsol’s field attempt.
But two minutes later, Malak Singh scored the winning goal off another field attempt.
Malaysia failed to convert from any of the five penalty corners they earned while India failed to even get a single penalty corner.
The national juniors, who are preparing for the Junior World Cup in New Delhi from Dec 6-15, lost the first two matches 4-2 last Friday and 4-3 last Sunday.
Team manager Mirnawan Nawawi said that the third match was their best.
“The defence played well and did not give away a single penalty corner to India,” said Mirnawan.
“We earned five penalty corners but India goalkeeper Harjot Singh played well to save our drag flicks.”
The national juniors will return to KL on Wednesday and resume training on Monday.
There are 25 players in the training squad and the final 18 players for the Junior World Cup will be named on Nov 18.
Sixteen teams will feature in the Junior World Cup and Malaysia are in Group D with New Zealand, England and South Africa.
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