Selangor fought back from a goal down to defeat Sabah in their opening match of the National Under 16 Championships at the Kuala Lumpur Hockey Stadium in Pantai this morning.
Sabah shocked Selangor with a goal in the 5th minute via Muhammad Harditireio, who converted a penalty corner, to take the lead.
But Selangor were undeterred and drew level in the 19th minute through Jazli Haziq Jamalul. And seven minutes later Selangor led 2-1 with Jazli notching his second goal.
Meanwhile Malacca got off to a winning start as well when they defeated Pahang 4-1 in an exciting match.
Malacca took the lead in the 16th minute when Luqman Nurhakim Saiful converted a penalty corner. But Pahang drew level in the 31st minute through Aidel Syaffiq Abdul Azam.
But Malacca took their chances well at penalty corners to go 2-1 up in the 55th minute when Mohammad Aizuddin Roslan scored. They went 3-1 ahead in the 61st minute when Abdul Aziz Aris converted another penalty corner.
And Mohd Firdaus Omar put the issue beyond doubt by converting yet another penalty corner in the 70th minute to give Malacca a comprehensive 4-1 win over the early favourites.
In the first game this morning, Johor were held to a 1-1 draw by PDRM in another Group A match. It was a creditable performance from PDRM who comprised mostly of the second string players from Kuala Lumpur.
Johor took the lead in the 16th minute through Kamarul Ariffin but failed to make good a host of chances that they created after that, including six penalty corners they were awarded.
Against the run of play PDRM were awarded a penalty corner in the 62nd minute and Mohd Nur Faiz duly converted to level the scores.
“We created enough chances to win the game easily but failed to take the chances. Hence we paid the price for sloppy finishing,” said Johor coach Keshminder Singh.
“We had 12 days of training to prepare for the tournament and I expect the team to improve as the tournament progresses.
“Our target is to make the last four as we were edged out of the semis last year.”
Both teams ended the match with ten players as PDRM’s Ameer Mohd and Johor’s Mohd Zarriq Hakim were shown the yellow card in the 66th and 67th minutes respectively.
Day One (Morning Results)
Group A
Johor 1 PDRM 1
Selangor 2 Sabah 1
Pahang 1 Malacca 4
Afternoon Fixtures
Group B
1530H – Perak v Terengganu
1700H- Negri Sembilan v Singapore
1830H – Kedah v Penang
2000H – Kelantan v Perlis
Saturday Fixtures
Group B
0830H – Negri Sembilan v Penang
1000H – Kedah v Perlis ( KPM Pitch)
0900H – Kelantan v Terengganu
1530H – Perak v Singapore
Group A
1700H – Selangor v PDRM
1830H – Johor v Pahang
2000H – Kuala Lumpur v Sabah
