KUCHING: Women’s defending champions of the Kuching Festival U23 Hockey Tournament, the Warriors have edged closer to retaining their crown after securing their spot in today’s semi-finals. The team from Miri coached by Rudy Naziri have scored three wins out of three matches in Group A to top the standings. Warriors opened their campaign with a 3-0 thrashing of SMK Bako and followed up with another 3-0 whipping of Reunites in their second match. In a tough encounter with KSB in the third game, Warriors won 1-0.
Joining the Warriors in the last four are KSB, a team comprising Sukma XVIII players from Kuching, Samarahan and Bau after they registered two wins, having beaten Reunites 2-0 in the opener and blanking SMK Tebakang 3-0 in the second match. In rating Warriors’ chances in the seven-a-side competition, Rudy is hopeful for his girls to make the final. “We may have beaten KSB today but they will probably also make the final as they are second in Group A. If they can beat BLTC from Group B in the last four, we may play in the final again,” he said.
“We will take one game at the time and we will not underestimate the other team SMK Serian in the semi-final,” added Rudy. “We want to be the final and retain the title but to us the toughest opponents are KSB.
“They are Sukma XVIII players and they have consistent training while we don’t have a astroturf to train or practice on,” he said. Rudy said Warriors also have a player Laura in the Sukma team but she is not playing in this tournament because her grandfather had passed away. KSB team manager Beatrice Sawin is also cautious of the team’s chances to make the final. The Kedah Sukma 2006 gold medallist felt that her team should play and fare better than other teams because they have constant training. “We are now in Phase 4 training and our girls should be fitter and more skilled.
“We also want to be in the final but we have to take a cautious approach against our semi-final opponent,” she said. Meanwhile, the men’s defending champions MTOB (Muara Tuang Old Boys) are also enjoying a good run in the tournament as they have won two matches. They beat Green Road B 2-0 and BLTC A 1-0 in Group C where they are also drawn with Sukma B and SMK Paku B, whom they shall play next in the competition.
In Group A, Bintulu Hawks flew high and low in their campaign. They suffered a 1-2 setback to SMK Tabakang but recovered to edge Telaga Air 2-1 to keep their hopes alive. However, their hopes were cut short as they were soundly trounced 4-0 by Sukma C (1Mas) in their third game, and SMK Tebakang sneaked into the next round.
Eight teams are participating in the women’s competition while the men’s competition has attracted 14 teams which are divided in three groups. In the women’s competition, the top two teams in Group A shall play the top two teams in Group B in the cross-over semifinals while the men’s competition shall see the top two teams from entering the second round where the six teams are again divided in Group X and Group Y, with the top two teams of each group going for the crossover semi-finals against each other.
The tournament is jointly organised by Kuching City South Council (MBKS) and the Sarawak Hockey Association. Finals will be played at 4pm today and hockey enthusiasts are welcome to watch the matches at the Sarawak Hockey Stadium.