KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian women's hockey team have moved up one rung to No. 18 in the world rankings after finishing fifth at the Hangzhou Asian Games.
Nasihin Nubli's team achieved this after edging Thailand 2-1 in a classification match on Saturday.
With this victory, the Speedy Tigresses will compete in the Paris Olympic qualifier in either Changzhou, China, or Valencia, Spain, in January next year.
Each qualifier will feature eight teams, and the top three in both Changzhou and Valencia will secure Olympic berths.
The other teams from Asia that will play in the qualifiers are India, Japan and South Korea.
China, Australia, and the Netherlands earned direct entries after winning their continental tournaments.
Nine additional teams that have qualified for the qualifiers are New Zealand, Belgium, Germany, Britain, Ireland, Italy, Ukraine, Spain, and the Czech Republic.
Three more teams will qualify after the Pan American continental tournament.