Former champions India qualified for the final of the 2025 Sultan of Johor
Cup against Australia on Saturday (Oct 18) following a 2-1 victory against
the Malaysian Young Tigers at the Johor Hockey Stadium, Taman Daya in
Johor Bahru on Friday.
This will be India’s eighth SOJC final since 2011. They emerged champions
three times and runner-up four times. As for the Malaysians, they will play
in the 5-6 th place match.
India’s Colts coach, PR Sreejesh, said: “Malaysian teams, you know,
sometimes they always hold you till the last minute. They created chances,
they played really well, and they stopped us from scoring, and that’s a real
great thing but I am still happy with the score.”
“There is still room to improve and there are a lot of unchosen areas where
we need to look at and give more attention to. That’s really important but
so far getting into the final is really important for us,” he added.
A heavy downpour, followed by lightning and thunder, delayed the start of
the fifth and last round-robin match by 45 minutes.
Looking back into the history of the Malaysia-India SOJC past records, the
Indians have won 14 matches since 2011. The only time the host won
against their nemesis was a 5-1 victory at the 2011 edition.
It took the Blue Shirts 22 minutes into the game to dismantle the Malaysian
junior’s defensive wall. India won their fifth penalty corner in the second
quarter and Gurjot made no mistake, placing the ball past goalkeeper Haziq
Muizuddin Hairol Mizan.
The Malaysians, however, bounced back for the equaliser through forward
Naaveenesh Panicker in the 43 rd minute via a field goal. It was the 20-year-
old Naaveenesh’s third goal in the tournament.
PR Sreejesh’s India went on the offensive in the fourth quarter, earing three
penalty corners. Sourabh Anand Kushwaha converted a penalty corner in
the 48 th minute as India held on to a 2-1 lead until the final whistle.
India has won the tournament thrice; Australia and Germany won it twice.
The biggest cheers are reserved for Great Britain – the most successful
team in the SOJC who won the coveted title four times.
Malaysian head coach Nor Saiful Zaini: “Overall, I am satisfied with my
players’ performance. If you look at their game, it seemed good in terms of
ball control. Most of India’s players featured in the Indian League and have
the experience of playing in the World League. We could see how difficult it
was to get the ball from them, especially with their positioning on the field.
Overall, our performance was okay. It’s just that we couldn’t achieve a
podium finish. With one more goal, we actually would have had a chance. A
one-goal difference with Australia, and another one-goal difference today.
“If we had converted both these goals, we definitely would have had a
chance to go to the top four or a podium finish. We will continue to work
hard for the upcoming World Cup,” added Saiful.
