Report from Singapore Hockey Federation

Hong Kong SAR sinks Kazakhstan in shootout after thrilling draw 

Hong Kong SAR emerged as shootout heroines in an exciting 14 April (Thursday) match despite the contest being heavily dominated by their higher ranked opponents from Central Asia.

Hong Kong SAR looked fresher after their two rest days and were able to sit back and break on the counter against their physically stronger opponents.

Having already played three gruelling games in the past four days, their opponents Kazakhstan looked tired and were not able to show the clinical goalscoring touch that had earned them a total of 24 goals in the pool prior to Thursday’s match with Hong Kong.

A lapse of concentration by Hong Kong SAR in the 12th minute earned Kazakhstan their first penalty corner of the game, but Gulnara Imangaliyeva was unable to convert Natalya Sazontova’s sweep.

Good stickwork by captain Natalya Gataulina to get into the D to pass to Sazontova in the 20th minute, but the latter failed to catch the ball to convert past HK custodian Yip Ting Wai.

On the other side of the pitch, Hong Kong’s Mok Ka Man managed to intercept a poor pass by Kazakhstan outside of the D in the 16th minute, but Phoebe Mak was unable to convert this rate goalscoring opportunity.

The Kazakhs would nevertheless find themselves on the scoresheet in the 27th minute as Natalya Gataulina managed to lob the ball past the the HK keeper Yip Ting Wai.

Hong Kong almost equalised just a minute later but their shot from just outside of the D went just wide. They continued to press Kazakhstan in their D for five minutes before the end of the first half, but could not muster a good shot at goal as Kazakhstan heavily marked their opponents.

Hong Kong were the ones on the back foot in the second half as Kazakhstan were better at anticipating their opponent’s moves and were able to win the ball back to start attacks..

The women from the SAR managed to get a penalty corner in the 50th minute of the match but failed to convert from the sweep. However, they would get their equaliser in the 53rd minute as Chan Ching Nam found space in the Kazakh defence to poke the ball past Guzal Bakhavaddin.

Both teams continued in search of a winner after Hong Kong’s equaliser. Hong Kong failed to score another goal after a succession of penalty corners were wasted late in the second half.

Kazakhstan nearly got their winner through a penalty corner in the 61st minute, if not for a clearance off the line by the Hong Kong’s Mok Ka Man to deny Olga Khonina a goal at the near post. They also were unable to convert a last minute penalty corner as Hong Kong stood firm to take the game to a shootout.

The shootout was a nail-biting affair which Hong Kong managed to win with a score of 3-2 to crush Kazakh hearts.

Hong Kong had missed their first effort through captain Lo I Ka, but Lau Pui Sze, Melvinia Cheng and Tiffany Chan managed to convert their chances to give Hong Kong the lead and eventually the win.

Kazakhstan had started off strongly in the shootout with Captain Gataulina giving them the lead and Viktoriya Shaimardanova adding the second, but two missed efforts put their opponents in the driving seat before Natalya Sazontova poor conversion attempt handed the win to Hong Kong.

Ultimately, the result was a reflection of the pedigree of these two teams. Kazakhstan were arguably the better team with most of the attacking chances in normal time, but Hong Kong SAR’s hard work and cool nerves ensured that they would have plenty to celebrate that night.