HANGZHOU, Sept 28 — The national men’s hockey squad lived up to the expectation after easily overcoming Indonesia 9-2 in the third Group B action of the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games at the Gongshu Canal Sports Park Stadium here today.

Indonesia, guided by former national women’s squad coach Muhammad Dharma Raj Abdullah, put up a fierce fight in the first quarter when Ahdan Asasi Ramadhan Uno’s goal in the 15th minute cancelled out Mohamad Ashran Hamsani’s opener in the 10th minute.

The national team began to dominate the game in the second quarter after getting back in front through Muhammad Firhan Ashari’s goal in the 17th minute before Muhammad Najmi Farizal Jazlan’s penalty corner goal two minutes later gave Malaysia a comfortable 3-1 lead.

In the third quarter, A. Arul Selvaraj showed their mettle as they scored five goals — three from penalty corners by Faizal Saari (33rd minute), Muhammad Najmi (35th minute) and Muhammad Razie Abd Rahim (43rd minute), and field goals by Shello Silverius (38th minute) and Muhammad Azrai Aizad Abu Kamal (42nd minute) — made the score 8-1 heading into the last quarter.

Malaysia added another goal through Muhamad Aminudin Mohd Zain’s penalty corner in the 48th minute before Indonesia managed to get one back through Aulia Akba Al Ardh’s penalty stroke in the 55th minute.

Despite the win, Arul Selvaraj was less than satisfied with the performance of his men after allowing the opposition to score twice.

"I am not satisfied in terms of the concentration, technique and when we allowed Indonesia to score two goals. I am not happy and I will resolve it tomorrow,” he said after the match.

Today’s success saw Malaysia record three consecutive victories after defeating Thailand 9-0 and Oman 11-1 in the first two matches.

Malaysia face a crucial match against South Korea at the same venue on Saturday (September 30), considered to be the decider of who finishes on top, before rounding up the group competition against China on Monday (October 2). — Bernama