Fitri Saari: Malaysia’s ‘Brainy’ Midfield Maestro
March 26, 2019
Sultan Azlan Shah Cup 2019: Malaysia Fought Hard But Luck Was Not On Their Side
March 27, 2019
Malaysia’s produced a valiant performance but it wasn’t to be as they went down 2-4 to India in their third match of their 28th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup campaign at the Azlan Shah Stadium tonight.Playing in their traditional colours, the Speedy Tigers started brightly, forcing a penalty corner in the fifth minute and another attack which saw prolific forward, Faizal Saari failed to add to his five goal tally when he narrowly failed to connect younger brother, Mohd Fitri’s searching pass.
After weathering the early storm, India got their noses in front through Sumit who tapped in a searching cross from the right by Mandeep Singh in the 17th minute.
Mandeep’s runs were causing havoc in the Malaysian defence which led to a series of five penalty corners but the Indians failed to find a way through goalkeeper, Muhammad Hairi Abd Rahman.
It was Malaysia’s turn to pile on the pressure and they got their reward when captain, Muhammad Razie Abd Rahim slammed a low shot pass goalkeeper, Krishan Pathak through a well worked penalty corner four minutes later.
Mandeep again provided the telling pass as Roelant Oltmans side failed to clear the danger in the circle, leaving Sumit Kumar an easy tap in the 27th minute.
Six minutes into the third quarter, India extended their lead when Varun Kumar slammed in their third through India’s eight penalty corner.
But Malaysia did not lose hope and reduced the deficit in the 57th minute through Muhmmad Firhan Ashari. But India had the final say when Mandeep scored through a quick counter attack a minute later.
Results
Day 3
Japan 1 Canada 2
Poland 2 Korea 3
Malaysia 2 India 4
Fixtures
Day 4
27th March (Wednesday)
Poland vs Japan, 4.05 pm
Canada vs India, 6.05 pm
Korea vs Malaysia 8.35 pm
