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Friday October 30, 2009

Women’s rugby team set modest target

By AFTAR SINGH

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia will battle it out with three teams – Thailand, India and Guam – in the women’s competition of the IRB Asian Sevens series’ Borneo leg, which begins tomorrow at the Likas Stadium in Kota Kinabalu.

National coach Haflil Feisol said that the team had to be realistic about their chances as they were only formed in April this year.

“We are in the development stage. This will be only the second time the national women’s team are featuring in a tournament,” he said.

“The first international tournament was the Asian Sevens in Pattaya in May and we finished as the runners-up in the development division. I hope we can win at least a match in Kota Kinabalu.”

In the tournament in Pattaya, Malaysia defeated Cambodia (17-5) and India (19-0) but lost to eventual champions Laos (7-12).

Haflil added that Guam and Thailand were much stronger teams and they hoped to get the better of India to avoid finishing last.

“We outplayed India in Pattaya and I am confident that we can get the better of them again,” said Haflil, who has been coaching the team since September last year.

He said that in their preparation for the tournament in Kota Kinabalu, the players represented Royal Selangor Club (RSC) Dingoes in the Bali Sevens two weeks ago and they defeated teams from Indonesia, Singapore and Australia’s South Darwin to win the title.

“It was a morale-boosting win for the team and I hope they will be able to give their best in Kota Kinabalu,” said Haflil.

The tournament in Kota Kinabalu is the third of a six-leg IRB Asian series. The Malaysian women’s team were not invited for the first two legs in Shanghai last month and Brunei. The other legs of the series are in Manila (Nov 7-8), Iran (Nov 14-15) and Sri Lanka (Nov 28-29).

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