Tuesday May 14, 2013
Rugby team set sights on promotion to Division One
By SHAMSHUL FITRI
PETALING JAYA: Malaysia will again vie for the top spot in Division Two of the HSBC Asian Five Nations rugby competition that will be held at the MBPJ Stadium on June 4-8.
After narrowly losing to Thailand in the final last year – thus denying them promotion to Division One – national coach Mohd Mazuri Sallehudin is confident his men can turn the tables on their rivals this year.
Last year, one of Malaysia’s naturalised player from Fiji – Kini Rasolosolo – was sent off in the 19-22 loss after he punched a Thai player.
Malaysia have been pitted against Iran, India and Singapore in Division Two this time and Mazuri is confident they can win promotion to Division One.
“We will field a lot of players from the national Under-23 squad ... we also have six naturalised Fijians to bolster the team,” he said at the press conference after the launch of the competition yesterday.
The tournament will be played via a knockout format, with the winner of the first match qualifying for the final. Malaysia will meet Iran in the first match.
Among the Under-23 players in the squad are Anwarul Hafiz Ahmad (of UiTM Lions), Nazrin Fitree Nasruddin (Serdang Angels) and Faridzal Ismail (Keris Conlay).
“The Iranians are undeniably bigger than us but they are new to rugby and our players have better tactical nous. We will try to use that advantage, along with the speed of our players, to overcome them,” said Mazuri.
“India are quite similar to Iran ... they are also new to the game. Our biggest threat will be Singapore, who were relegated from Division One last year. They will have quite a number of foreign players too.”
The Division Three matches involving Indonesia, Guam, China and Qatar will also be played at the MBPJ Stadium concurrently.
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