GUANGZHOU, Nov 11 (Bernama) -- The women's hockey squad is determined to improve on their performance ranking at the 16th Asia Games here after failing to shine at the New Delhi Commonwealth Games last month.
Based on that performance, coach Yahya Atan said he had identified several weaknesses in the team.
"On their return, I made an analysis on the performance of the players and found that their forward attack was among the weaknesses.
"Our team was not able to make a good finishing strike when taking penalty corners or scoring goals," he told Malaysian journalists at the Games Village here Thursday.
"If possible, I do not want a repeat of that here. We will continue to fortify the defence side because I don't want them to play a defensive game.
"I find that the defence in the women's hockey team is really strong and once in a while, can go for a counter-attack against the opponents," he said.
According to him, after returning from the Commonwealth Games, the squad trained with the Royal Malay Regiment men's team and the Bukit Jalil Sports School.
"Apart from that, the players also took agility tests, with most showing improvement," he said.
On the target of the women's hockey team in Asia Games this time around, Yahya said they would try to improve on their Asian and Asian Games rankings.
Malaysia currently occupies the fifth ranking in Asia after China, South Korea, Japan and India. At the Asia Games in Doha, Qatar in 2006, Malaysia also bagged the fifth place.
Come Saturday, our women will swing into action in their first game against India. As a familiarisation training here, they are holding a friendly match with the home team Thursday.
-- BERNAMA From Farhanah Azmi
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