Malaysia Trounce Kazakhstan 13-1 To Face Thailand In Quarterfinals

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 18 (Bernama) -- Malaysia outclassed Kazakhstan 13-1 in their last Group B match Tuesday night at the Tun Razak Hockey Stadium, here to set up a quarterfinal clash against Thailand in the Women's Hockey World League (WHWL). With the win, the national squad which bounced back from Monday's 1-2 defeat to Ireland, finished second in the group with six points from two wins behind Ireland, who won all three matches to collect nine points. Dressed in all-white, the host opened the scoring as early as the fifth minute through Nurul Nabihah Mansur's field goal but Kazakhstan reacted quickly with an equalizer through Vera Donashneva two minutes later. Muhammad Dhaarma Raj Abdullah's girls however, regained the lead a minute before the end of the first quarter through midfielder Nor Hasliza Md Ali's 14th minute strike. The second quarter was a totally different ball game as the Malaysian girls pumped in another five goals through a brace from Fatin Shafika Mahd Sukri in the 16th and 24th minutes and one each from Nuraini Abdul Rashid (18th min), Fazilla Sylvester Silin (26th min) and Nuraslinda Said (28th min) for a comfortable 7-1 lead. The big lead did not whet the appetite of the home team as the scoring spree continued in the third quarter through Norazlin Sumantri (40th min), Hanis Nadiah Onn (44th min), Fazilla (46th min) and Wan Norfaiezah Md Saiuti (49th min) while Fatin Shafika completed her hattrick a minute before the final whistle to complete the scoring. The fans had a lot of reasons to cheer since it was money's worth after watching the most number of goals scored in the WHWL thus far with a total of 14, surpassing Ireland's 12-0 win over the same opponents. Commenting on the win, Dhaarma Raj said regardless of the number of goals scored, getting three points from the match was more important for him. "We never chased for goals in this match, what was more important was the points. But the way we played, moved the ball around and set pieces was great. "We will play Thailand tomorrow (Wednesday), it is a must win match and I think we would not face much of a problem. But we need to respect the opponents and anything can happen in the knockout phase, so we must be prepared," he said. A win against Thailand would probably earn a meeting with favourites Italy in the semifinals. Earlier, Ireland crushed Hong Kong 10-0 to finish top of Group B after winning all three matches for an easy quarterfinal draw against Singapore, while Kazakhstan would play Wales and Italy will take on Hong Kong in the other quarterfinal match. Italy topped Group A after whipping bottom placed Singapore 9-0 while Wales seized second place after defeating Thailand 3-0. -- BERNAMA