Speedy Tigers can still walk tall after loss to India

PETALING JAYA: It was a bitter pill to swallow for the Speedy Tigers as they squandered a 3-1 lead to lose the Asian Champions Trophy final 3-4 to India at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium in Chennai.

Coach A. Arulselvaraj said he was still puzzled by what had happened.

“We had a 3-1 lead and then squandered it when India scored two quickfire goals in the third quarter,” he said.

“This defeat is hard to accept. But we will take this defeat positively because we want to learn.

“Our motive in this tournament is not to get any injuries because we played seven games in 10 days.”

In the first quarter, India took the lead through Jugraj Singh, who unleashed a superb penalty corner in the ninth minute.

The lead lasted five minutes as Malaysia got the equaliser when Mohd Azrai Aizad Abu Kamal scored a field goal. In the second quarter, Malaysia doubled their lead when Razie Rahim buried a penalty corner in the 18th minute.

Malaysia silenced the fervent Indian crowd when Aminuddin Mohd Zain scored a penalty corner in the 27th minute to give Malaysia their third goal.

Towards the end of the third quarter, India got one goal back in the 44th minute when Harmanpreet Singh buried a penalty stroke and eventually got the equaliser a few seconds later through a Gurjant Singh field goal.

India broke Malaysian hearts when Akashdeep Singh scored a field goal off a counterattack in the 55th minute.

It was India’s fourth Asian Champions Trophy, and it’s the first time Malaysia have qualified for the final of the tournament.

Arulselvaraj said when the boys return to training in Malaysia, there would be some aspects they would work on.

“Many things we did, worked quite well. We need to learn how to make the right decisions in critical situations. We all know India are ranked third in the world.

“They always play top-level games against sides like Australia, Belgium and Holland. That’s why their intensity in every game is very high. We need to play against these sides to develop ourselves.

“We also have to learn how to reduce our silly errors and also unnecessary cards.”

Arulselvaraj said the national team would look to keep former Australian internationals Kieran Govers and Glenn Turner to help with the team’s attacking force for the Asian Games in Hangzhou.

“We played seven matches, winning five and losing two, both against India.

“In terms of goals, we have three to four players who can score field goals and all four of our penalty flickers also scored.”

Malaysia are aiming to win the Asian Games gold medal to assure an automatic ticket for the Paris Olympic Games.