The national men’s hockey team in a group photo prior to the match with Hong Kong. – BHA
BRUNEI Darussalam men’s national hockey team took some positives despite slipping to a 5-0 defeat at the hands of Hong Kong in the reverse fixture of the Men’s Asian Hockey Challenge at the Theinphyu Stadium in Yangon, Myanmar yesterday.
The men’s national hockey team, who ended an unwanted run of three consecutive 11-0 losses, narrowed the score gap from their first meeting with Hong Kong in the tournament.
Brunei have also kept a shutout against the world number 45 with both sides firing blanks in the first quarter. The national team, whose participation in the Asian Hockey Federation-sanctioned meet served as an opportunity to gain exposure, managed to keep the scores down and were only behind by 2-0 in the first half.
The three goals that they conceded in the second half was a much better showing compared to their previous performance against them when they shipped seven during the same period.
The team will be playing Myanmar with renewed confidence in their next tie as they look to emulate a similar performance in their bid to keep up with the quality of play in this region.
The four teams who have been entered in one pool will be taking a break today before resuming their campaign on December 1.
Brunei will be concluding their round robin play against Taipei, who preserved their unbeaten record after a 3-1 win over Myanmar, on December 2.
Chen Hsi-Fan opened the scoring in the 16th minute before Hsu Ching-Chieh grabbed the second goal for his side in the 33rd minute.
Tu Yu-Chuan extended his side lead in the 54th minute while in the other end Myanmar’s captain Than Htut Win netted a scant consolation in the final minute of play.
