Armed Forces (ATM) Guardians hope of turning their luck around in this
edition of the Ekspres Perdana Sepak Takraw League (STL) suffered a setback
when they lost to Kuala Lumpur Thunder in their 5th round match at
the Serdang Jaya Municipal Council Stadium.
After a run of successive defeats early in the season, Guardians
registered victories over Penang Black Panthers and Kedah Eagles in their last
two matches spurring hopes of a revival for their season.
However, it took only about 40 minutes for Thunder to take home the
victory with a 2-0 win, punishing the defending champions to their fifth defeat
of the season.
Guardians’ trio Nazmi Najib (tekong), Nazuha Nadzli (feeder) and
Afiffudin Razali (striker) were unable to stage a comeback after going down
21-19 in the first set to the Thunder’s trio of Aizat Nor Azmi (tekong), Amirul
Zazwan Amir (feeder) and Zamree Dahan (striker).
In the second set, Guardians began the match much brighter only to fade
off later allowing Thunder to take advantage and go on to claim a 21-16
victory.
After today’s match, Thunder’s now occupy third spot before looking to
build on today’s win when they face Johor Tigris on Sunday while Guardians will
face 7th place Kelantan Warriors.
The second match of the day saw Terengganu Turtles fresh from securing a
season-long deal with Spritzer as their team sponsor, extended their lead at
the top of the table to six points after claiming a hard-fought 2-1 win in
their match against Penang Black Panthers.
Terengganu Turtle’s, Fadzli Roslan (striker) who have been impressive
throughout the season so far had a change of luck coming into this match when
he was yellow-carded in the first set for time-wasting before limping off
injured after landing awkwardly trying to block the ball.
Kamal Alfiza Shafie stepped-in for the injured Fadzli and had nervy
moments throughout as it was his first match of the season before helping his
teammates Zulkifli Razak (tekong) and Azwan Muhrim (feeder) to a victory.
About 2000 fans thronged the Serdang Jaya Municipal Council Stadium to
witness this mouth-watering tie as they went back home pleased after both sides
put up an entertaining performance to woo the crowd.
Panther’s trio Syahir Rosdi (tekong), Suhairi Sulaiman (feeder) and Azlan
Alias were outclassed by the Turtles in the first set, losing 21-16 before
staging a comeback in the second set to claim a 21-14 win.
The tie-breaker saw both teams increase their intensity and momentum with
Panthers in control for most part of the set before Turtles caught up to steal
a 21-19 victory preventing Panthers from staging an upset over the league
leaders.
Turtles win today will definitely be a huge morale booster heading into
tomorrow’s match against third place Kedah Eagles while second place Panthers will
hope to overcome today’s defeat when they entertain bottom of the table Melaka
Titans on Sunday.
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