U-14 :: KL and Perak to meet in repeat U-14 final

Defending champions Perak and Kuala Lumpur set up a repeat final in the national Under-14 hockey tournament after scoring similar 2-1 victories in the semi-finals at the Kuantan Hockey Stadium yesterday.

Kuala Lumpur came from a goal down to edge Penang 2-1 while Perak downed Negri Sembilan 2-1 to set up a repeat of last year’s final.

And this time around, KL look good enough to win their first ever Under-14 title.

KL coach K. Rajan said his players have been showing improvement in each match and in fact could have won by a bigger margin against Penang in the semi-final.

“I am confident that we will do well in the final. We want to win the title and playing Perak will give us a chance to exact revenge for last year’s defeat,” said Rajan.

In yesterday’s semi-final, Penang took the lead in the 14th minute through a field goal by Mohamed Rahimi.

Mohamed Zulhafiq equalised for KL with a field goal two minutes before the end of the first half.

KL continued their aggressive play in the second half and was rewarded with the winner in the 52nd minute Nor Shafiq slotted home a penalty corner goal to put his team in the final.

Penang had gone into the match as the only unbeaten team after the preliminary round.

In the second match Negri were the favourites after their good showing in the preliminary round. And as expected they took the lead in the ninth minute through Badrul Hisham off a field attempt.

But Perak were back on level terms just two minutes later with a penalty corner strike from Mohamed Akhran.

The winner came in the 53rd minute when Mohamed Najib scored a field goal. And after that Perak held sway for the last 15 minutes to qualify for their second consecutive final.