M'sia eye maiden World League Final
Published on: Thursday, June 22, 2017
Kuala Lumpur: The Malaysian men's hockey squad are now on a different mission at the Hockey World League (HWL) Semifinal Round in London, England after having "unofficially" secured a berth in the 2018 World Cup.Malaysia who advanced to the quarterfinals of the HWL which should secure a spot for the 2018 World Cup by finishing third in Group A after whipping China 5-1 early Wednesday, hope to accomplish another mission by qualifying for the HWL Final Round at Bhubaneswar, India for the first time ever.As 16 places are allocated in the next edition of the World Cup compared to 12 in previous editions, host India, five continental champions and another 10 top placed teams from two editions of HWL Semifinal Round, five each from London and Johannesburg, will get tickets to play in the world meet.ADVERTISEMENT But if host India finishes in the top five at HWL and wins the 10th Asia Cup this year, another two spots will be offered to the next best placed teams, while if the top 10 finishers at HWL are also continental champions, more places would be available for HWL teams.However, if Malaysia at world number 14 secure a semifinal berth by upsetting India Thursday, their route to the World Cup is secured besides qualifying for the HWL Final Round in India from Dec 1-10 this year.Head coach Stephen Van Huizen, who was pleased to have achieved the first objective of the tournament, which is to advance to the quarterfinals, said his side will take a different approach when facing world number six, India Thursday, in the knockout phase."Today we were in control throughout the first half but mentally took our foot off the pedal when we went 3-0 up and conceding a goal caused some anxious moments but happy to have limited our opponents to just one goal. ADVERTISEMENT We are the underdogs against India but hope to raise our game," said Stephen.The match is also a chance for Malaysia to take revenge on India for taking away the 2016 Rio Olympics qualifying spot after losing 2-3 to the Asian champions in the 2015 Antwerp edition of the Semifinal Round at the same stage.
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Malaysia started the match on a cautious note after heavy defeats (2-5 to world number one Argentina and 3-7 to host England before winning 1-0 against world number 12 South Korea) but picked up momentum to whip China 5-1.Since only the top eight teams will rub shoulders at the HWL Final Round, the top four teams from London and Johannesburg will advance, but if the host India fail to qualify on merit, only seven top teams from both HWL Semifinal rounds will advance based on the International Hockey Federation's (FIH) current rankings. – Bernama