WHWL:Malaysia creates history by advancing to final, sinks Italy at semi-finals

Malaysia records history by advancing to the final of the second round of the Women's Hockey World League (WHWL) after beating first seeded team, Italy 2-1 via a penalty decider at the semi-finals action at Tun Razak Stadium here Saturday.

National player, Fatin Shafika Mahd Sukri emerged as national heroine when she scored two goals at the penalty decider after the game was tied at 2-2 at the end of the match.

The victory was all the sweeter when it qualified the national team to compete at the WHWL Semi-Final Round which is the final qualification stage to the 2018 World Cup.

In action in front of 1,000 local supporters, the Italian team first scored in the 10th minute via a field goal by Maria Garraffo before Malaysia equalised three minutes later via field goal specialist Fazilla Sylvester Silin.

The mistake of the Malaysian defender in clearing the ball out of the danger zone presented Italy with a penalty strike which was converted into goal by Agata Wybieralska in the 18th minute.

But, the national team once again rose to the occasion to equalise in the 26th minute via a field goal by Hanis Nadiah Onn and the position remained tied at 2-2 until the end of the first half.

The second half saw the Italian team staging several dangerous attempts but the Malaysian defenders headed by goalkeeper Farah Ayuni Yahya succeeded in denying them any goal.

The Malaysian squad's dream was almost shattered at the final seconds of the game after Italy was presented a penalty strike but was thwarted by the Malaysian defenders and both teams were still tied 2-2 until the game ended.

The penalty decider saw Farah Ayuni performing excellently to deny five of six attempts by the Italian players before Fatin Shafika emerged national heroine after scoring two of six penalty attempts.

Meanwhile, another semi-finals action saw second seeded team, Ireland beating Wales 2-0 to also advance to the final.

Ireland was forced to wait until the 27th minute to score via Yvonne O'Byrne who calmly scored from a penalty corner before Anna O'Flanagan scored from a field goal to confirm a place to the final.

The final action today would see another meeting between Malaysia and Ireland after they first met at the Group B match with victory on the side of Ireland at 2-1. -- Bernama