KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia, powered by five national hockey players, edged South Africa 2-1 to finish Group A runners-up in the World University Games in Kazan, Russia, on Saturday.
Malaysia completed their fixtures with nine points from three wins and a defeat. They will face Group B runners-up Germany for the bronze medal today.
Germany surprisingly lost 2-4 to France in their last group match on Saturday to finish second in the group with nine points from four matches.
Hosts Russia outplayed Poland 5-1 to top Group A with the maximum 12 points. Russia will meet Group B champions France in the final.
The format is that the groups’ top two teams will play for the gold and the runners-up will contest the bronze.
Against South Africa, Malaysia were trailing 1-0 when Brandon Panter converted a penalty corner in the 28th minute. But the Malaysians fought back to equalise five minutes later through a penalty corner conversion by national defender Mohd Razie Abdul Rahim.
Ahmad Kazamirul Nasruddin, also a na-tional defender, was the toast for Malaysia when he scored off a field attempt in the 53rd minute.
“The South Africans went all out against us as they needed a win to play for the bronze medal. But we put up a good fight to come off winners,” said Ahmad.
“We have never won a medal in hockey in the Games. Now, we need to rise to the occasion to get the better of the Germans,” he added.
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