WHWL: Malaysia Struggle To Beat Thailand 3-0

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 20 (Bernama) -- Malaysia had to struggle for 55 minutes before beating arch-rivals, Thailand 3-0 in the Women's Hockey World League (WHWL) Round Two quarter-final at Tun Razak Hockey Stadium here, Thursday night. World number 21 Malaysia will face world number 15 Italy in the semi-final. Italy whipped Hong Kong 7-0 in another quarter-final. Lack of creativity by the strikers deprived Malaysia of early goals in the first two quarters. Efforts from Malaysian tigress Hanis Nadiah Onn in 19th and 29th minutes were saved by Thai goalkeeper Siraya Yimkrajang. The home side almost punished by the world number 31 side through penalty corner just seconds before the end of halftime however, the defence line managed to control the situation. Malaysia broke the deadlock in the 38th minute when skipper, Siti Noor Amarina Ruhani converted a penalty corner to give the host 1-0 through the end of third quarter. The pressure continued for another 20 minutes until Norazlin Sumantri netted in a field goal in the 56th minute, before Nuraini Abdul Rashid hit the back of the net in 60th minute. Malaysia's whacked Hong Kong 9-0 and Kazakhstan 13-0 in Group B matches. The two teams are the whipping boys of the tournament. Malaysia lost 1-2 to world number 16 Ireland in a group match. Head coach Muhammad Dhaarma Raj Abdullah praised his girls claiming it was their best performance in the tournament. "We need to be cautious and couldn't play our normal game because Thailand was waiting for us to made mistake to made counter attack, so have to be careful because it is knockout phase. The girls played exceptionally well today (Thursday) despite been in the pressure to win the game. "We will go all out against Italy because we have nothing to lose. We will try to reduce our mistakes and make use of chances well," he said. In other semifinal, Ireland who trounced Hong Kong 10-0 in another quarter-final will play Wales, who edged Kazakhstan 2-1. Malaysia must win mission against Italy to secure their berth into the WHWL Semi-finals round in Belgium and South Africa, which is the last avenue to qualify for the 2018 London World Cup. Only top two this from this tournament will get automatic berth into the Semi-finals round, while only two third placed teams from three Round Two tournaments will get a chance to play in the semifinals based on their ranking. -- BERNAMA