KUALA LUMPUR: Asian teams shouldn't gripe about the changes to the qualifying process for the 2026 World Cup by the International Hockey Federation (FIH).
Olympian and former World Cupper Datuk Sri Shanmuganathan asked rhetorically, which is more important: the quality of the teams or equal representation from the continents?
He said quality in this case is more important than having "weak" teams making up the required numbers.
"The World Cup must have the best teams participating, although there will be more European sides than from other continents."
FIH has revised the qualification process for the World Cup, but this seems to have made it harder for Asian countries to qualify for the 16-team event.
Five continental champions will qualify automatically for the World Cup while Belgium and the Netherlands have secured their places as hosts.
Australia have confirmed their ticket as the FIH Pro League champions for 2023/24 while the winners of the 2024/25 season also qualify for the World Cup.
The seven remaining places will see other countries fighting for them in qualifiers in January, 2026.
Shanmuganathan said Asian teams shouldn't dispute FIH's World Cup qualification process.
"We cannot challenge the rules but we have to accept them. It will be a challenge for us, but we must capitalise on the changes.
"The Asian teams should prove that they can fight hard to qualify for the World Cup.
"Malaysia have enough time to prepare a solid team and we must change our mindset by not only qualifying but be able to compete against the best teams in the World Cup.
"There's no point competing in the World Cup and finishing last."
Malaysia finished 12th and last in the 2014 World Cup in The Hague, Netherlands. In the 2018 World Cup in Odisha, India, Malaysia finished 15th of 16 teams.
Former international Maninderjit Singh said the 2026 World Cup qualifying process for the Asian teams is really tough as more teams will be involved.
"For example in the Olympics, the Great Britain team comprise England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales but for the World Cup qualifiers, all these four teams will feature individually.
"Asian teams must work hard to improve their standards. Look at India... they did not qualify for the 2008 Olympics but they made drastic changes to improve their standard and it paid off as they are now among the top teams in the world."
India won back-to-back bronze in the Tokyo and Paris Olympics, and they retained the Asian Champions Trophy title in Inner Mongolia, China recently.
World No. 13 Malaysia, coached by Sarjit Singh, need to win the Asia Cup next year (venue and dates yet to be finalised) as only the winners qualify automatically for the 2026 World Cup.