Hockey girls shine in trip

THE Hong Kong under-19 women's hockey team returned from a successful tour of Singapore with their heads held high with drawn results in all their three junior international matches.

The territory's teenagers, who have trained six months for the tour, gave the Singapore under-19 side a scare in their opening match when skipper Sharai Lowenstein scored from a penalty corner in the eighth minute.

They defended well in the hot and humid conditions until the closing minutes when the hosts took advantage of a defensive error to equalise.

The Hong Kong girls produced an outstanding performance in their second game against the Singapore under-21, who were strongly fancied to give the touring party a hockey lesson.

However, it was the Hong Kong team who shone when they shocked their more experienced rivals by forcing six penalty corners.

Unfortunately, they failed to break through although Annamie Hale and Xanthe Knight came very close to scoring.