Fresh from winning the Persatuan Sepaktakraw Malaysia Grand Prix recently, Armed Forces first regu trio of Tunku Azwari Tunku Ishak (tekong), Faizzul Abdul Razak (feeder) and Khairudin Adenan (striker) won the first set 21-18 but dropped the second 18-21 against Khobil Sepair (tekong), Zarlizan Zakaria (feeder) and Amirul Asyraf Idris (striker).
In the decider, the army men strolled to a 21-14 win to give Armed Forces the much needed lead over Green Titans in this six-week long league which was launched by Youth and Sports Minister, Khairy Jamaluddin, on Friday.
STL Malaysia, a strategic partnership between Persatuan Sepaktakraw Malaysia (PSM) and Singapore-based Asia Sports Ventures (ASV) is a continuation of STL 2014/15 and concludes on Nov 22. The semi-finals will be held on Dec 12 and final the following day.
In the second regu which involved national players from both sides, Nazmi Najib, Shakirin Md Nasir and Muhaimi Che Bongsu triumphed 21-12, 21-11 over Shahidan Ali, Masran Rahman and Syazreenqamar Salehan to give Armed Forces a 2-0 overall victory.
Green Titans, however, dropped further back when their third regu of Hasrul Anuar Suboh, Hasif Yusof and Shelpul Saad conceded an 18-21, 15-21 defeat to Armed Forces.
Armed Forces head coach, Rashidi Nordin, said: “In reality, Armed Forces and Green Titans are equally matched. My players were simply in top form executing deadly strikes at the net and we hope to carry on with this momentum against Gomo Warriors (Kelantan) next weekend.”
Green Titans coach, Najib Iman, said he was disappointed by the defeat but acknowledged his boys made several unforced errors which resulted in them losing the opening match.
“There are six more matches to go in STL Malaysia and we have all the opportunity to get back on trail. There were several unforced errors which resulted in us losing against Armed Forces and we will correct it against Kuala Lumpur City Flyers on Sunday (today),” said Najib.
Kuala Lumpur City Flyers also got off to a winning start following a 3-0 victory over Kedah’s Northern Rangers after going through a pulsating three set encounters in both opening regus.
City Flyers’ Farid Abdul Aziz, Muqlis Borhan and Hafiz Abdul Rahman struggled to a 21-14, 19-21, 21-12 win over Faizul Suhari (feeder), Shahrol Nizam Romli (striker) and Kamarul Shukri (tekong) while the second regu of national players Aizat Nor Azmi (tekong), Amirul Zazwan Amir (feeder) and striker Azlan Alias survived a 21-18, 19-21, 21-17 scare against Kamal Aizat Azmi, Zuleffendi Sumari and Hanafiah Dollah.
The city boys wrapped up the third regu tie with a 21-10, 21-13 win for their first two points in the league.
In tomorrow’s matches, Malacca Green Titans will play Kuala Lumpur City Flyers, Southern Tigris entertains Terengganu’s East Coast Surfers and Black Panthers meet Gomo Warriors.
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