GENTING HIGHLANDS (11 February, 2017): Both SS Purple League (SSPL) 2016/17 finalists, Puchong United BC and Petaling Jaya BC will be looking to go all out as they look to claim their first SSPL title after securing a place in Sunday’s final at Arena of Stars, Resorts World Genting.
In last
year’s edition, Petaling Jaya finished runners-up while Puchong United came in
third place.
However
this season Puchong United knocked out defending champions Muar BC as they won
the clash 11-4 while Petaling Jaya qualified for the final after scrapping past
debutants BU Dragons BC through the narrowest of points margin as their match
finished 12-12 in yesterday’s semi-finals.
Puchong
United’s team manager, Irina Inozemtseva maintained that her Puchong United
side has to show respect to their opponents this Sunday, Petaling Jaya despite
her team being labelled favourites to win this season’s SSPL by many.
“Our
opponent has good fighting spirit. We saw it in the quarter final against
Petaling BC and yesterday against BU Dragons BC. It is not easy to beat those
two teams and they did it so we have to be cautious. I am sure that the final
will be a tight one,” said Irina.
“In
addition, they have a strong squad with high quality players such as Goh Giap
Chin, Kim Sa Rang, Koo Kien Keat and many others,” she added.
The team
manager will be looking to put out her strongest line-up for the final as well
in her team’s title bid.
“I
watched the semi-finals match between Petaling Jaya and BU Dragons and we will
have to reassess and analyse our opponents closely. I will have to also look at
my players and pick those I see fit to overcome the challenge posed by our
opponents this Sunday,” said the Russian.
“Whatever
it is, I am confident my players will perform in the final. And of course I
hope that we will win because it is our dream to be crowned SSPL champions,”
added Irina.
Meanwhile,
Petaling Jaya’s team manager, Manoj Kumar admitted that his team will be the
underdogs for this Sunday’s final. “Puchong United has a very strong squad, not just on paper but also based on their displays in the knockout rounds. And plus they are strong in all the categories,” said Manoj.
“But we
will try to steal as many points as we can. As we learned, it is not always
about winning the game but also collecting as many points in each match. Maybe
in the men’s doubles match we can win in straight sets and hope that other
players do their parts in putting on a good display – something that helped in
our win over Petaling BC previously,” added the manager.
Manoj
also praised his team captain and singles player, Goh Giap Chin who has been in
outstanding form and played a vital role in Petaling Jaya’s route to the final.
“We will
go all out to get first place and I hope Giap Chin and once again lead us to
the title. We will want to go one better as we only finished runners-up last
season,” said Manoj after yesterday’s semi-final win over BU Dragons.
Puchong United and Petaling Jaya will go head to head in the final which will take place in Arena of Stars, Resorts World Genting this Sunday at 2pm.
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