FIVE days of training and fifth in the Asia Cup in Muscat, Oman.
That is what Malaysia had to settle for after Covid-19 had robbed coach Nasihin Nubli and his charges of a chance to train and play international matches for the last two years.
Last month, Nasihin's hopes of exposing his youth brigade at the Asian Champions Trophy (ACT) in Donghae were also wrecked by a Covid quarantine.
"I had a team with an average age of 22, and 12 of them went to Oman with zero caps.
"After a shaky start (9-0 drubbling by India, and 8-0 by Japan) the team started playing better and in the end they finished fifth," said Nasihin.
"The fact that I had only five days to train them and also play matches against boys and men, speaks volumes about this team's future."
At the ACT in Donghae, the Malaysian team were "detained" at a hotel after one player tested positive for Covid-19, and they never got to play any matches. And upon returning to Malaysia, the players were quarantined yet again.
"At least 35 days were 'wasted' in Korea and our players were doing nothing but trying to keep fit in their confined hotel rooms.
"However, this team grew after every match in Oman, and the final match against Thailand saw them control all four quarters against a team that had more experienced players," said Nasihin.
However, the heavy defeats by India and Japan showed that Malaysia still have a lot of catching up to do with Asia's top teams.
The Asia Cup's semi-finalists are South Korea, Japan, India and China.
Malaysia, who are rebuilding their women's side, found out in Muscat that their ladies are pretty much the same, still fifth for the fifth consecutive time in the Asia Cup since 2007.
In Southeast Asia, the Malaysian team are still dominant, with wins over Indonesia (6-0), Singapore (2-0) and Thailand (3-0).
Comparatively, Indonesia, who qualified for their first Asia Cup, lost 7-0 to both China and South Korea, who have World Cup and Olympic experience.
The Malaysian Hockey Confederation's move in dropping many seniors and taking a novice side to the Asia Cup, which is a World Cup qualifier, is vindicated.