Malaysia Finish Third In Group B After Losing 1-3 To Great Britain

KUALA LUMPUR, June 29 (Bernama) -- Malaysia completed their fixtures in Group B with a 1-3 loss to Great Britain in the World Hockey League (HWL) Semifinal held at the KHC Dragons Stadium in Antwerp, Belgium. After losing to the world number five, Malaysia dropped to third place with six points while Great Britain moved to the top of Group B with eight points but will have to wait for the outcome of the match between Belgium and Ireland to be sure of top spot. Malaysia, ranked 12th in the world, went into the match with two wins - one over China (3-2) and Ireland (4-2) - and a 0-2 loss to Belgium while Great Britain had drawn 2-2 with Belgium and beaten China 8-1. The final position of both teams will not be known until the completion of the Belgium-Ireland match later Sunday. Coach Tai Beng Hai said his boys put up a gallant fight and managed to take the lead in the first half through Mohd Haziq Shamsul a minute before the end of the first quarter. As the match progressed in the second half, goalkeeper Roslan Jamaluddin was called in to make a number of superb saves to deny Ashley Jackson and David Ames before David Condon came in to level the score at 1-1 from a penalty corner a minute into the third quarter. A yellow card for Malaysia captain Muhammad Razie Abdul Rahim and a green card for Baljit Singh in the fourth quarter proved to be costly, with Great Britain killing off the game through Jackson and Sam Ward in the 49th and 50th minutes as both the Malaysian players were still serving their punishment in the sin-bin. Malaysia will play against India if they remain in third position after the Belgium-Ireland clash Sunday night. Pakistan and France finished third and fourth in Group A after playing to a 2-2 draw in their final group match and have to wait for the completion of the Group B matches to know their last-eight opponent. All the quarterfinal matches will be played on Wednesday. --BERNAMA