SINGAPORE, June 9 — The Malaysian women's hockey team lived up to expectations as the SEA Games defending champion by marching into the final after beating Indonesia 5-1 for their third consecutive victory at the Sengkang Hockey Stadium, here today.
The squad under coach Nasihin Nubli Ibrahim took a 3-0 first half lead with goals from Noor Hasliza Md Ali (11th min), Fatin Mahd Sukri (26th min) and Fazilla Sylvester Silin (35th min) before adding two more in the second half.
Indonesia came back from the break to reduce the deficit to 1-3 through Tiffani Makharti's 40th minute strike but Siti Rahmah Othman restored the three goal advantage in the 42nd minute before Noor Hasliza completed the rout in the 53rd minute.
"We only needed a win today, so I decided to rest skipper Siti Noor Amarina Ruhani and central defender Raja Norsharina. Since the weather was very hot, I also told them to play simple hockey and safe their energy for the final," he said.
Malaysia will face either Singapore or Thailand in the final.
WOMEN
-------
P W D L F A Pts
Malaysia 3 3 0 0 16 1 9
Thailand 2 1 0 1 9 4 3
Singapore 2 1 0 1 1 7 3
Indonesia 3 0 0 3 1 15 0 — Bernama
