KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Hockey 5s team edged closer to the semi-finals of the Asia Cup when they beat Bangladesh 10-5 in Salalah, Oman, on Wednesday.
This win came at the back of an 18-2 hammering of Japan a few hours earlier.
Malaysia now have nine points from three matches and need to beat Pakistan or India to book an automatic last four ticket. The top-three teams qualify for the inaugural Hockey 5s World Cup in January, also in Oman.
The Malaysian goals against Bangladesh were scored by Akhimullah Anuar Esok (fourth, eighth, 25th), Syarman Mat Tee (eighth), Nazrey Din (13th), Muhibuddin Moharam (13th), Ismail Abu (15th), Firdaus Omar (18th), Syarman Mat Tee (19th) and Ismail Abu (19th).
Team manager Sukri Mutalib said even though the Japan and Bangladesh matches were only a few hours apart, his men managed to win both comfortably.
"We needed the goals in our match against Japan, as Pakistan had beaten them 26-1 earlier. It was a good display in both matches.
"In the elite group, Pakistan and India are the teams to beat if we want to play in the World Cup next year. We have our plans for both matches, and hope all goes well," said Sukri, who was a former national field hockey skipper.
In the earlier match of the day, Malaysia whitewashed Japan 18-2 with Akhimullah Anuar Esok going on a six-goal spree.
Akhimullah had tasted gold in the 2018 Rio de Janeiro Youth Olympics Games, and his hard and accurate shots might just land Malaysia gold in Oman as well.
Akhimullah, named as the man-of-the-match, has scored 12 goals in three matches. Against Japan, he scored in the second, eighth, ninth, 10th, 23rd and 29th.
The other goals were scored by Firdaus Omar (first, seventh, 16th, 22nd), Arif Ishak (10th), Kamarulzaman Kamaruddin (15th, 24th), Nazrey Din (16th, 20th, 21st, 22nd) and Syarman Mat Tee (27th).
RESULTS:
Elite -- Malaysia 18 Japan 2, Malaysia 10 Bangladesh 5. Bangladesh 6 Pakistan 15, India 12 Oman 2,
Challenger: Iran 5 Indonesia 3, Afghanistan 3 Kazakhstan 1, Kazakhstan 8 Iran 12, Afghanistan 7 Hong Kong 12.