Football: Sarawak women lose out on experience

KUCHING: Despite losses to Pahang and Sabah, the Sarawak women’s football team gave their best, even though most of the players are new to the game.

Both matches at the Sarawak State Stadium saw the team lose 1-2 to Pahang on Aug 16 and 0-3 to Sabah on Aug 20.

Head coach Sufian Ibrahim praised the team despite the losses.

Suffian.

“Every player managed to show her highest enthusiasm up until the end of the game,” he told New Sarawak Tribune recently.

He stressed the importance of experience, especially when it comes to more competitive tournaments.

“As we are aware, the majority of players from Sabah, Pahang, Selangor, and other teams are currently competing in the Malaysia National Women’s League (LWN) and local leagues in their respective states, giving them a slight advantage.

“In contrast, the Sarawak women’s football team were only formed less than six months ago to prepare for SUKMA.

“However, this does not prevent us from being competitive,” he added.

He hope that Sarawak State Sports Council (MSN), Sarawak Sports Corporation (SSC) would take the development of the state women’s football very seriously.

“Supposedly, there should be an early exposure for the player and the grassroots or in schools,” he added.

He aplogised on behalf on the women’s football team for not being able to do well.

“We hope that we can do better in the next SUKMA,” he added.