BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong, China notched up a formidable 8-0 win against the host Brunei in their first match of Women's Hockey Asian Challenge 2017 being held here at the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
It was an easy encounter for Hong Kong, China although the bottom-ranked Brunei was spirited in their endeavor to put up a fight with counter attacks. As there is a big gap in technical, tactical level and physical capability, Hong Kong, China controlled the the rhythm of the match with 3-0 in the first half.
Making too many mistakes in passing and catching the ball, Brunei could not organize effective attacks and failed to score any point with the advantage of home field. The two teams ended the match with the scoreboard reading 8-0.
A technical official from Asian Hockey Federation told Xinhua that this is the first time for Brunei to host such hockey event. Although hockey is not a popular sports in Brunei, the sultanate hopes to take advantage of this event to promote awareness of hockey in the country and communicate more with other teams to improve its own level.
"We participated in this game to adapt to the hot and wet weather of Southeast Asia," an official from Team Hong Kong China said, "We are fighting for a ticket of Jakarta Asian Games next year."
The Asian Challenge was introduced by the Asian Hockey Federation in 2013 to provide the second-tier hockey teams in Asia with more opportunities to compete on the international level against opponents of a similar standard. The inaugural edition was held in Bangkok, Thailand in 2015.
Three teams of Hong Kong, China, Brunei and Pakistan compete in the Women's Hockey Asian Challenge 2017. Each team will play two matches with the others in two rounds of tournament and the two best teams will compete for championship on 28 October.
