Malaysia shocked by lowly Wales in friendly

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian hockey team suffered a shocking 1-0 defeat to Wales in a friendly match in Cardiff on Sunday.

The solitary goal was scored by Rufus Mcnaught from the top D in the 65th minute.

It was Malaysia’s second match against Wales, ranked 27th in the world. Last Friday, the national team, ranked 13th in the world, won 3-1 in the first Test match.

Malaysia, coached by Tai Beng Hai (pic), arrived in Cardiff on March 1 to get acclimatised to the chilly conditions before moving their base to Dublin for the Olympic qualifier, which begins on Sunday.

Malaysia, who failed to qualify for the last two Olympics Games in Athens (2004) and Beijing (2008), will open their campaign against Chile on March 10.

Their other matches are against Russia (March 11), Ukraine (March 13), South Korea (March 15) and Ireland (March 17).

The Koreans ranked sixth in the world will start out as the favourites against Malaysia.

The final and classification matches will be held on March 18.

Only the winners of the tournament will join other 10 teams that have already qualified for the London Olympics in July.

The others teams through to the Olympics are defending champions Australia, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Spain, New Zealand, Pakistan, Argentina, India and Britain.

Japan will host the last qualification tournament next month in Kakamigahara.