Malaysia

BY S. RAMAGURU

KUALA LUMPUR: Sapura moved closer to retaining their Malaysia Hockey League title when they beat Telekom Malaysia 3-1 at the KL Hockey Stadium yesterday.

With 21 points from eight matches and with just two matches to go, the defending champions are looking good for the title although second-placed Bank Simpanan Nasional still have a chance of overhauling the leaders.

Former champions Maybank, however, saw whatever slim hopes they had of staying in the title race wiped out when debutants SAS Pahang held them to a 2-2 draw at the Tun Razak Stadium.

Overall defending champions Tenaga Nasional, meanwhile, got back to their winning ways, hammering the out-of-depth Dolphin 10-1 at the KL Hockey Stadium.


Yesterday, Sapura had to come from behind for their victory.

They started without South Korean Kang Keon-wook and defender S. Shanker, both of whom are injured, and fell behind after just eight minutes.

Telekom earned a penalty stroke and Indian import Len Aiyappa converted.

But the lead was shortlived. Three minutes later, Sapura found the equaliser from a penalty corner, with skipper S. Kuhan scoring with a direct flick.

In the 20th minute, P. Prabhakaran gave them the lead with a field goal before Kuhan added the third in the 28th minute from a second penalty corner. There were no goals in the second half.

Sapura coach Tai Beng Hai said Telekom had made a fight of it and he was happy with the way his players responded.

“At this stage, points are crucial. We can worry about goals later. We have another two matches to go and we want to make sure that we take all the remaining points,” he said.

“We know only BSN can chase us if we do not drop points. But we will worry about them later.”

Maybank, too, had to come from behind twice to earn their draw against SAS.

National forward Ismail Abu gave the Pahang team the lead in the 51st minute off a field attempt while Pakistani Yasir Islam scored the other goals on the hour.

The Tigers, however, equalised twice – in the 54th and 65th minutes – both times through Shaiful Azli.

Rate This Article

Select Here  5 Stars  (Best Rating)   4 Stars   3 Stars   2 Stars   1 Star  (Worst Rating)

Your opinion counts.
Rate this article or enter your comments below.