Report from Singapore Hockey Federation

China Earn Place In Finals With Swift And Sweeping Victory

The undefeated team from China added another victory to their record after beating Singapore 5-0, during the semi-finals for Round 1 of the 2016 Men Hockey World League.

China had set the pace of the match right at the start of the first half as one of its players, Wang Bowen, swiftly shot the ball right from the corner of the D at the two-minute mark. Unfortunately, the ball flew across the goalpost, narrowly missing the net by an inch.

Excitement and tension in the pitch continued to escalate as players from China aggressively attacked the Singapore defense and worked their best to figure a way to get the ball safely to their side.

Though considered lethargic during the first few minutes of the match, Singapore sprang to life when Ahmad Faris Johari successfully evaded an attempted steal from Yu Xin at the three-minute mark and had gone as far as the centre line before being intercepted by their rivals.

At the 4th minute mark, China had easily created for themselves three chances, with one leading to them being awarded the first penalty corner in the match.

As Huang Jingcheng expertly received the ball from his teammate and had charged through  Singapore’s line of defense, audience and players alike held their breaths in anticipation for the goal he was about to make.

However, Ahmad Faris Johari flew in just at the right time and was able to block the incoming ball, denying China its second goal.

The second penalty corner awarded to China at the 10th minute broke the 0-0 deadlock at the scoreboards, with Zhang Taozhu plunging the ball into the net and past Singapore’s custodian, A Suresh, with little to no difficulty.

In total, China received nine penalty corners, with a few of them converted into a goals. One of such was at the 14th minute mark when China was awarded their third penalty corner.

As the players struggled to get the ball past Singapore’s players, the swift swing made by one of the players from team China did not catch A Suresh off-guard. Suresh brilliantly blocked the fast ball given by China, but was too quick to stand down and that allowed China to swoop in and smash the ball right into the net, giving China its second point of the match.

Twenty minutes into the match, Singapore continued to be pressured by China as the latter fired rapid shots and gave little chance for Singapore to intercept and deflect their passes.

Roughly four minutes later, a long sweep by China to the corner of the D was attempted, only for it to ricochet from the side. Su Lixing sprinted at this chance and tried to hurl the ball into the net, but A Suresh blocked the shot and sent the ball flying through the air.

Adam Aniq Amir from team Singapore caught the high ball and bolted through China’s players, carefully maneuvering and guarding the ball as far as he could.

Nonetheless, before Amir could reach the borders of the D, Guo Zixiang managed to nick the ball from him and was about to pass the ball when Noor Shah Silas darted in the cross-section and got back the ball after a brief stick fight with ZiXiang.

As the second half began, Singapore took on a more aggressive approach, with its team captain, Enrico Marican prompting the most chances.

Singapore’s first penalty corner at the 40th minute showed Goh Kai Yang weaving his way further into the D, only to have the ball rebound on Wang Hongyu’s goalie blocker gloves.

The rebound was caught by Marican and immediately, he sent the ball rocketing through China’s defense, but unfortunately misses the net.

Another chance came during the 60th minute mark when Marican managed to redeem a stray ball caused by a sloppy pass between Tan Yi Ru and Ahmad Faris Johari. Marican made it to the outer boundaries of the D but got cornered by China before he could have had the chance to push forward.

Seeing that they only had less than ten minutes left in the match, China delayed the game by holding off the ball from their opponents and merely passing to each other for a good three minutes before finally being challenged by the Singapore team.

A minute before full time, Singapore was given a penalty corner, and as the clocked ticked on and the tension became almost unbearable, Tan Yi Ru went in for the kill and catapulted the ball through China’s formation.

However, the final whistle was blown before the ball could have made it into net, thus discounting the chance and discounting the supposed score that would have been, if time had been on their side.  

China continue to excel in the competition and will be making their way to the finals. Singapore will also be facing their next opponents for the Bronze position, and hopefully, time will be on Singapore’s side.