PETALING JAYA: Beware of China’s speed and power as well as their penalty corner specialist Gao Jiesheng when Malaysia begin their campaign at the FIH Olympic Qualifiers in Muscat, Oman, on Jan 15.
The 26-year-old Jiesheng has only played 18 international matches but turned out to be the country’s top goal poacher at the Hangzhou Asian Games where all his 10 goals came through penalty corners.
The Speedy Tigers do not need to be reminded of the 4-4 draw in Hangzhou, which ended their campaign at the group stage and the two teams will resume where they left off in Oman.
Speedy Tigers team manager Datuk Mirnawan Nawawi said that China cannot be taken lightly and having a winning start will put the team in a good frame of mind in a tough qualifying campaign from Jan 15-21 where Malaysia must finish in the top three to advance to the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“China’s strengths are their physical strength and speed and they also have a very good penalty corner taker (Jiesheng) who scored 10 goals for them at the Asiad,” said Mirnawan.
“We also played them in the Asia Champions Trophy (ACT) last year and beat them 5-1. We haven’t lost to them although the draw in Hangzhou was very frustrating.
“They will assemble almost the same team that played in the Asiad for the Oman qualifiers. They may not have played much internationals in recent times but we cannot take them lightly.
“Every team will go all out to qualify for the Olympics but it is important for us to have good start and fight all the way at the qualifiers.
“The team have been preparing well and now it is up to the players to show how important it is for them to qualify for the Olympics.”
The Tigers, besides focusing on polishing up their skills and also having match-plays among their trainees, will also get further assistance in working on their penalty corner set-pieces.
Australia’s former Olympian Chris Ciriello and renowned goalkeepers’ coach Martijn Drijver will be in town to have set-piece drills for the Tigers this week.
Malaysia’s top drag flicker Razie Rahim should benefit from Ciriello, a penalty corner specialist in his heydays while Drijver is likely to help goalkeepers Hafizuddin Othman and Zaimi Mat Der in their preparation for the qualifiers.
Ciriello and Drijver were also present last year to train the national senior and junior teams on several occasions.
