Malaysia lose shootout to Japan in Asian Champions Trophy semi-final
Japan scored all five shootout attempts after a goalless match, leaving Malaysia to face South Korea for third place.
Malaysia’s bid to reach the Asian Champions Trophy final ended with a 5-3 shootout loss to Japan at Mohali Hockey Stadium in Punjab. Neither side scored during regulation time.
Faizal Saari failed to score Malaysia’s first attempt. Nik Aiman Nik Rozemi, Shello Silverius and Azrai Aizad Abu Kamal then converted, but Japan finished with a perfect shootout record.
Japan’s successful attempts came from Kazumasa Matsumoto, Ryoma Ooka, Tsubasa Tanaka, Haruki Ochiai and Seren Tanaka.
Coached by Brendon Carolan, Malaysia had opportunities to settle the semi-final in regulation time but could not score from any of their five penalty corners.
The result extended Malaysia’s losing run at the tournament to three matches, after round-robin defeats of 4-2 against India and 2-1 against Japan. It was also their fourth defeat by Japan this year.
Malaysia, ranked 14th globally, will next meet South Korea in the third-place playoff. They had targeted a final appearance and their first Asian title. In the classification match played earlier, China secured fifth place by defeating Bangladesh 3-1.
