From Maninderjit Singh

Malaysia’s men’s hockey team failed miserably at the Hangzhou Asian Games after the hype they will scoop gold and qualify for the Paris Olympics next year.

The team finally finished sixth after losing to an ill-prepared and young Pakistan team, who played with determination despite not enjoying the benefits the Malaysians had.

Malaysia had an easier door to Paris via the Asian Games but suffered a meltdown, coming after two years of preparation, many foreign consultants, and spending close to RM5m-RM7m.

We are currently ranked 12th in world hockey, and we may be 13th or 14th after the Africa Cup of Nations and Pan American championships.

Over the past eight years, Malaysia has been sliding badly and could not keep up with the competitive edge in world hockey. In fact, the country last qualified for the Olympics in 2000.

Winning the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup last year was not a true reflection of the success as all the invited teams were below par, making it easy for Malaysia to lift the title.

In the FIH Hockey World Cup in January this year, Malaysia finished 13th overall, among the 16 teams, and that is the real indication of where we stand in world hockey.

The 10th ranking in the world then was an artificial standing because the tabulations were only introduced in 2020.

But due to the pandemic, many events were postponed, and the ratio or number of matches among teams wasn’t equitable. The reality of the rankings will be known after the Paris Olympics.

I had suggested the 2023 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup be held in November as this will allow the team to be well prepared for FIH Olympics Qualification in January next year.

But the Perak Hockey Association, the local organisers for the invitational, decided to postpone it, with the reason that they wanted to organise indoor events.

With the difficult pathway to the Paris Olympics, this piece is written to give the custodians and hockey fans an understanding of the processes, and where Malaysia may play and against who.

Let’s look at what is in store in the FIH Olympics Qualification.

Spain’s Valencia will host one of the two men’s qualifying tournaments while the other will be held, minus the host, in Muscat, Oman, instead of Lahore in Pakistan.

Each tournament will feature eight teams and the top three teams from each of these qualifiers will make the cut for the 12-team competition at the Olympics.

The seedings and teams for the qualifiers will be determined at the end of all the continental championships this year.

The winners of the tournaments at the five continental championships qualify directly for the Olympics.

I had called on MHC to bid for one of the two Olympic qualifiers but they went instead for the Junior World Cup 2023, which is meaningless as we needed the qualification event.

Since Malaysia have lost three matches in a row at the Asian Games against lesser-ranked teams China, South Korea and Pakistan, they now stand 12th in world rankings, with the African and Pan American events to come.

With that, it can be predicted with a certain degree of assumption where Malaysia will play, and who will be in their group.

Valencia: Belgium, Spain, South Korea, Ireland , Canada/Japan, Pakistan/Egypt, Austria and Ukraine.

Muscat: Great Britain, Germany, New Zealand, Malaysia, Japan/Canada, Egypt/Pakistan, China and Chile.

The eight teams in each qualifier will be divided into two pools with semifinals and finals, third and fourth placings and other classifications.

Based on the above details, the grouping in Muscat will likely be as follows:

Group A: Great Britain, Malaysia, Japan/Canada, Chile. Group B: Germany, New Zealand, Pakistan/Egypt, China.

It could be a Germany-Malaysia clash in the semifinals, and a likely encounter with New Zealand for third place.

I find it strange that the Malaysian team is travelling to New Zealand in December for some matches because they might just be the opponents for the last slot to Paris.

Playing against New Zealand ahead of the Olympic qualifiers is not a wise move because they may use their second team or rotate key players, and since the pools for Olympic qualification will be announced in mid-November, Malaysia could be caught off-guard.

And due to last-minute planning, it is tough to get any international matches as the FIH Pro League commences soon.

After the failure in the Asian Games, many pushed for changes to the team but we only have two months until the Olympic qualifier, and I feel the current set-up should be retained as we don’t have the luxury to start anew.

If we fail in the qualifier, I believe this will be the last dance for these aging players, who have collectively more than 2,300 international caps.

I truly wish the very best for the Malaysian hockey team and hope they will be in the Paris Olympics.

Olympian Maninderjit Singh is a former Malaysia hockey defender and an FMT reader.