THE HAGUE: S. Kumar is Malaysia’s only consistent performer in the hockey World Cup in The Hague, Holland. There is, however, no joy for the 31-year-old goalkeeper.
Despite his heroics, Kumar was not able to stop Malaysia from losing all their five Group A matches.
“Yes, it is a big disappointment for me and the team. We had wanted to make an impression and really felt that there was a chance in some of the matches. Unfortunately, our performance was not up to the mark. We didn’t really play well at all,” moaned Kumar.
The Malaysians kicked off their campaign with a 0-4 loss to defending champions Australia. Further defeats to Belgium (2-5), England (0-2), India (1-3) and Spain (2-5) ended Malaysia’s hopes of a top-10 finish.
Malaysia will now play for 11th place against South Africa or South Korea on Thursday.
For Kumar, he doesn’t want to finish last in the tournament.
“It is time for us to put up a stronger showing and try and win the match.
“Our worst performance in the World Cup is 11th in the 1998 edition. I don’t want this team to be remembered for finishing worse than that.
“We must win at all costs,” he said.
Kumar admitted that his game was also not up to his own standards.
“I am playing below par as well, but I managed to stop quite a number of sure goals. I had hoped that those saves would help the team, but the efforts did not help.”
Kumar is among the 17 Malaysians making their debut in the tournament. Goalkeeper Roslan Jamaluddin is the only player with World Cup experience. Kumar, however, has kept Roslan out of the games here with his good showing.
Kumar blamed Malaysia’s poor showing to the lack of World Cup experience.
“We have been trying real hard, but the World Cup is different from the other tournaments.
“If you look at our matches we have had good chances to score. Unfortunately, luck was not with us in some of the matches.
“We also don’t have the experience, but I am sure we will learn from this outing,” he added.
Limited time offer:
Just RM5 per month.
