South Africa’s men’s hockey team wins its first game at this year’s World Cup in India. The Proteas beat Malaysia by six goals to three in a play-off match for 9th to 16th place.
South Africa failed to win any of their Pool A matches, with losses to Argentina, France and Australia.
The South Africans were determined to secure their fourth win in nine outings against Malaysia.
[FIH Hockey World Cup]
Super performance by the South African Men to defeat world number 10 Malaysia in India todayhttps://t.co/emUBBEgpaP#HockeyInvites pic.twitter.com/Xxd9HlQyhu
— SA Hockey (@SA_Hockey) January 26, 2023
The Proteas got the encounter off to a good start with a goal by Bradley Sherwood in the eighth minute. With five minutes left in the second quarter, player of the match, Nqobile Ntuli scored for South Africa. Although Malaysia managed to score again, the Proteas recorded a 6-3 victory to register their first win at this year’s tournament.
Player of the match, Nqobile Ntuli says they are happy to get the win.
“We’re pretty happy to get this win. We were quite disappointed after our first two games, not to get anything out of it and progress to the top eight. We had to set our sights on a new goal. And I think we did that today and took the first step to a new phase for us.
The South Africans now stand a chance to finish in the top 10 when they play their final game in two days. This is already the team’s highest finish in a 16-team world cup event.
