The Malaysian women’s floorball team created a piece of Sea Games history by winning their first-ever match at the biennial meet after beating Indonesia 8-2 in Manila on Wednesday.
Nur Dianah Athirah Zukefley netted a hat-trick in the first period as Malaysia led 5-1 after the first 20 minutes on the way to ending a four-match losing run since the sport’s debut in 2015.
Nur Syafiqah Zain, Kuek Jimun, Nurfarah Yusof, Cheng Kee and Janeter Kadir also scored for Malaysia, who are now in the running for a place in the bronze medal playoff, likely against the Philippines.
“We are assured of at least playing for third and fourth positions so in the next game, we will try different players and different moves,” said Malaysia coach Rizal Ramlan, whose side play Philippines on Friday after earlier defeats to Singapore and Thailand.
The men’s floorball team are also in the running for bronze after beating Indonesia 8-2 for Malaysia’s first win in the tournament.
Malaysia will secure a spot in the netball semi-finals with a victory over Brunei on Thursday. There is a three-way tie at the top of the standings after Singapore beat Brunei 62-38 and Thailand trounced the Philippines 64-29 to join Malaysia on six points.
In men’s water polo, Malaysia were left bottom of the five-team standings following their second defeat of the tournament, a 17-5 loss to defending champions Singapore.
In men’s football, Win Naing Tun scored in the 79th minute to give Myanmar a 2-1 win over Philippines in a Group A match at the Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila after Justin Baas had drawn the hosts level in the 45th minute to cancel Aung Kaung Mann’s 16th-minute opener.