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KUALA LUMPUR – Besides defending the gold medal, the national women’s indoor hockey squad are on a “revenge” mission against Indonesia at the Cambodia SEA Games this May.
Team striker Qasidah Najwa Muhammad Halimi described the defeat suffered by the national team at the 2022 Asia Cup Indoor Hockey Championship to Indonesia as a nightmare for her.
She said more so now that the Indonesian team are coached by former national women’s squad coach Muhammad Dharma Raj Abdullah, who guided Malaysia to win gold at the 2019 SEA Games in the Philippines.
“Coach Dharma knows all about Malaysia but it’s not a problem, we can still beat them. In the Asia Cup match in Thailand we only narrowly lost, Indonesia won at the last minute. Malaysia should have won, but there was no luck.
“The Cambodia SEA Games is an opportunity for us to avenge that defeat as it was a nightmare to lose to Indonesia under Dharma’s handling,” she told reporters when met at the squad’s training session for the biennial games here.
At the 2022 Asia Cup Indoor Hockey Championship, the national squad were defeated by Indonesia 0-1 in the semi-finals before winning the bronze medal by beating Kazakhstan 2-0 in the third and fourth-place decider.
Meantime, Qasidah Najwa said that although the players in the squad competing in Cambodia are mostly new faces, she is optimistic that the team is still strong and capable of emerging champions.
At the same time, she also aims to contribute as many goals as possible for the national team which is currently coached by Mohd Badrul Hisham Osman.
The national men’s and women’s indoor hockey teams swept the gold medals at the 2019 Philippines SEA Games. – Bernama, March 30, 2023