Thailand cruised to victory at the 4 Nations Friendly Field Hockey Tournament played over the weekend at the Vietcam Sports Centre in Pur Sen Chhey district.

The visiting side had left all in their wake on Saturday, beating England 9-2, Japan 7-4 and hosts Cambodia 5-1.

Yesterday, Thailand kept up their imperious form with wins over all but Cambodia, to whom they lost 4-2 in their last match, having already clinched the trophy.

Japan finished second ahead of Cambodia and the veteran English team went away with the wooden spoon, having recorded a single winning result, against Cambodia on Saturday.

The competition featured two days of identical match-ups, with each team facing each other once on each day.

The seven-a-side games were played without goalkeepers on the Astroturf pitch of the Vietcam Sports Centre and the rules followed those of indoor hockey, with no hitting allowed.  

Event organiser and Cambodian national team coach Rana Asif Maqsood said there would be another set of matches next weekend between Japan, England and Cambodia.

These games would be 11-a-side and would be played on the grass pitch of either the Old Stadium or Boeung Keng Kang High School.

Maqsood commented on Cambodia’s apparent drop in form, having held an impeccable record in previous events on home soil.

“In every past tournament here we got No 1, but this year we got No 3. This doesn’t mean our team is poor, but that the teams involved this time are stronger,” he said.

Although the Asian teams coped well with the sweltering conditions of midday play, two of the English players were forced to retire on Saturday suffering from heat stroke.