KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian women's team lost 4-2 to Japan in the Hockey 5s Asia Cup in Salalah, Oman, today, and now face a tougher route to the semi-finals.
Indonesia, who won five of their six matches to finish second in the Challenger Group, will play Japan who ended up third in the Elite Group with the winners playing in the last four.
Malaysia finished last in the Elite Group, and will play Hong Kong, the top team of the Challenger Group, with the winners advancing to the semi-finals.
The Malaysian women have had a torrid time in Salalah as they lost their earlier matches, 7-2 to India and 8-1 to Thailand.
"We lost all our Elite matches and chose the harder route to the semi-finals. It will be uphill against Hong Kong but not an impossible match.
"Our women only trained for about six months, and were not well prepared, but the men's team have experienced players
"Some of them won the 2018 Youth Olympics Hockey 5s gold medal (in Buenos Aires) and hopefully their combination with the rest will take us into the men's knock-out stage," said Malaysian team coordinator Hasnizam Hassan.
The Malaysian men will open their Hockey 5s Asia Cup against hosts Oman tomorrow in Muscat.
Malaysia are in the Elite Group with India, Oman, Bangladesh, Japan and Pakistan.
In the Challengers Group are Afghanistan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Iran and Kazakhstan.
The top-two in the Elite Group advance to the semi-finals, while the rest play in the classifications to make the grade.
The top-three men's and women's medal winners qualify for the Hockey 5s World Cup in January, also in Oman.