KUALA LUMPUR: The national men’s hockey squad’s opportunity to end a 24-year drought and qualify for the Olympics remains uncertain, after a 1-4 defeat to Great Britain in the qualifiers for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games in Muscat, Oman, earlier this morning.
This is the second consecutive defeat for A. Arul Selvaraj’s team at the Oman Hockey Stadium, after losing 3-2 to China in their first Group A match on Monday (Jan 15).
Facing the strong Great Britain, ranked fourth in the world, the 14th-ranked national squad, known as the Speedy Tigers, had to concede to the opponent’s attacking prowess, with Will Calnan scoring the opening goal in the 19th minute.
The national hockey team refused to let Great Britain completely dominate, and equalised in the 26th minute through Muhammad Shahril Saabah.
Great Britain secured their second goal, with Sam Ward converting a penalty corner in the 32nd minute, followed by Zachary Wallace exploding the third goal seven minutes later.
However, Ward made sure that Great Britain was hard to challenge by scoring the fourth goal, his second, in the 58th minute.
Following the result of this morning’s match, Great Britain tops the group standings with six points, while China is in second place, sharing three points with Pakistan in third. Malaysia remains at the bottom of the group with no points.
However, China, Pakistan and the national team shared the same number of goals (three).
The Speedy Tigers have no choice but to beat Pakistan by a big margin, and hope that Great Britain beats China in the last game of the group on Friday, thus finishing in the top two of the group to qualify for the semi-finals.
The 2024 Olympic Qualifying Championship in Muscat is the final stage for all teams competing for a place at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, with the top three teams earning a place at the world’s biggest sporting event. – BERNAMA
