By AFTAR SINGH
KUALA LUMPUR: The pressure is on the national men's hockey team to buck up after finishing last in the Asian Champions Trophy (ACT) in Inner Mongolia, China in September.
World No.13 Malaysia's most important tournament next year is the Asia Cup in August in India where only the winners get a ticket to the 2026 World Cup in Belgium and the Netherlands.
If Malaysia fail to win the Asia Cup, their only other route to the World Cup will be the qualifying tournament in 2026.
Can the Speedy Tigers win the Asia Cup title? Certainly not if Sarjit Singh's team continue to play like they did in the ACT.
They have been struggling this year - finishing fourth in the six-nation Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Ipoh in May and seventh out of nine teams in the Nations Cup in Poland in June.
National forward Azrai Aizad Abu Kamal admitted that the team are under pressure to improve.
"We need to improve for the upcoming tournaments. We need to work on our weaknesses and do better in the Asia Cup."
National player Shello Silverius also admitted that pressure is on the Speedy Tigers to produce better results after the ACT flop.
"We will have enough time to train hard to improve our weaknesses in preparation for the Asia Cup," he said.
Azrai and Shello were among 11 athletes who signed with Mizuno today to use its sporting equipment for competitions next year.
The other athletes with Mizuno are track star Ahmad Luth Hamizan, professional golfer Nicholas Fung, upcoming shuttler Shaqeem Eiman Shahyar and footballers Daniel Ting, Dominic Tan, Afiq Fazail, Feroz Baharudin, Shahrul Nizam Ros Hasni and Azam Azmi Murad.