Hockey women finished fifth in Asiad again

INCHEON: The national women’s hockey team retained their fifth placing in the Asian Games for the third time in a row.

At the Seonhak Hockey Stadium on Wednesday, Malaysia whipped Kazakhstan 8-0 with Noraini Abdul Rashid scoring a hat-trick in the 45th, 53rd and 56th minutes.

Rabiatul Adawiyah Mohamed started the rout with a field goal in the 20th minute. Norbaini Hashim (38th), Norazlin Sumantri (39th), Norhashikin Halim (51st) and Fazila Sylvester Silin (56th) contributed the other goals.

Team manager P. Chitra said the players were determined to finish fifth after the disappointment of missing the cut for the semi-finals.

Malaysia finished third in the group behind China and India to miss the boat to the last four.

“Our players were down for a while but we managed to get them back on their feet in time for this match. Luckily, they did not show any adverse effects and went about their task as usual,” said Chitra.

The next big assignment for the team is the World League second round in India in March.

“The World League is an Olympic qualifier. Our target is to make the cut for the third round (semi-final phase) of the World League,” she said.