A player from the Brunei national sepak takraw team (R) in action against Germany in their 3rd International Sepak Takraw Federation (ISTAF) Super Series match yesterday. Brunei beat Germany 2-0.Courtesy of Asia Sports Ventures
A player from the Brunei national sepak takraw team (R) in action against Germany in their 3rd International Sepak Takraw Federation (ISTAF) Super Series match yesterday.Courtesy of Asia Sports Ventures
The national sepak takraw team advanced to the quarter-finals of the 3rd International Sepak Takraw Federation (ISTAF) Super Series after defeating Germany 2-0 in Group B yesterday in Sabah, Malaysia.
The Sultanate showed their resilience and survived three set points to win the second set 17-15 at the Likas Sports Complex.
Brunei had cruised to an easy win in the first set before the Germans stormed back in the second to lead by six points.
The latter were close to evening the games at 14-11 before the national team buckled up to take the win.
Brunei will next face Indonesia in the last-eight today.
The Sultanate started out their campaign for the Oct 31 - Nov 3 event on the wrong foot with a 2-1 (8-15, 16-14, 15-13) loss at the hands of Singapore.
It was back-to-back losses after they fell to third seeds Japan in another closely contested match 2-1 (17-15, 12-15, 15-12).
In the third match, Thailand proved too strong to handle as they cruised to a 2-0 (15-1, 15-4) victory over the Bruneians.
As opposed to the first two legs in New Delhi in August and Bangkok last month, the Sultanate had sent a second string team - Mohd Alliffuddin Jamaludin, Mohd Hazim Mohammad Ali, Nur Alimin Sunggoh, Ahmad Habbibuddin Jamaludin, Mohd Shahrine Budin - to compete in KK.
National sepak takraw coach Ittiphol Chomchaissak had opted out of the competition as they are not taking part in the Regu event at the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Myanmar in December.
Md Shukri Jaineh, Ismail Ang, Marzuki Munap, Humaidi Brahim Abd Hadi Ariffin Matazi and Mohd Hafizzuddin Jamaludin are the names listed for the SEA Games.
They will only compete in the doubles, team (doubles) and hoop events.
Ittiphol is set to bring his charges for intensive training in Thailand early next week in a lead up to the tournament.
Meanwhile, top seeds Malaysia remain unbeaten heading into the next round of the 3rd ISTAF Super Series after winning all their matches yesterday.
They had cruised to straight sets victories over Iran and India before making to work for a 2-1 win over Indonesia for the perfect record.
The hosts will face Singapore in the quarter-finals.
Japan will take on India while Thailand face Iran in the other matchups.
