Malaysia go down tamely to Russia in Kazan

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia, powered by four national players, suffered a 4-1 defeat to hosts Russia in the men’s Group A  hockey competition of the World University Games in Kazan on Wednesday.

Malaysia, who outplayed Poland 7-1 in the opening match on Monday, now have to win their remaining two matches against Italy today and South Africa tomorrow to earn a place in the semi-finals.

Russia, who defeated Italy 3-0 in the first match, top the standings with maximum points from two matches.

South Africa are second with four points from one win and a draw.

In the match against Russia, Malaysia took the lead off a penalty corner goal by national defender Mohd Razie Abdul Rahim in the eighth minute.

But the hosts came back strongly to dominate the match and netted three goals in the space of 11 minutes.

Nikolay Komarov equalised in the 17th minute before Igor Sinyagin gave Russia the lead in the 26th minute.

Two minutes later, Almaz Kurbanov made it 3-1 off a penalty stroke.

After the breather, Pavel Golubev completed the rout in the 48th minute from a field attempt.

France are the first team to qualify for the semi-finals with three consecutive wins in Group B. They trounced South Korea (11-4), Ukraine (10-0) and Japan (5-2).

France will wrap up their group fixtures against Germany on tomorrow. Germany are also expected to reach the last four after two convincing wins over Ukraine (4-0) and Japan (6-0).