BY ZULHILMI ZAINAL Follow on Twitter
Malaysia kicked off their 2018 AFC U-16 Championship campaign in style, thumping Tajikistan 6-2 in the tournament opening match on Thursday.
In the match that was played at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium, forward Luqman Hakim Shamsudin emerged as the toast of his team, when he netted four goals in the match, in the 30th, 42nd, 46th and 67th minutes, all from open-play.
After the game, he told the press of his pride towards the achievement.
"I'm proud of the goals, and praise Allah, the three points is ours. I'm particularly proud of my first in the match as I've never scored such a goal," said the Mokhtar Dahari Academy trainee.
Now that the Young Tigers' confidence is at a high, he wants two things:
"I want to score the most goals in the competition, and also for the team to qualify to the U-17 World Cup (as AFC semi-finalists)."
Malaysia will next play Thailand on Sunday in Group A, at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium. Kick-off is at 4.30 pm Malaysian time, with tickets priced from RM10.
The full tournament fixtures can be viewed and downloaded from here.
Read more on Malaysia U-16 and the tournament.
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