KUALA LUMPUR: The national rugby sevens team may have progressed over the years but are still far behind the best in the sport.
And their mission at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games will be to keep the scores down.
The Games have never been an easy competition for the national sevens squad, and the Birmingham edition will be no different.
Malaysia are in a tough group with South Africa, Scotland and Tonga in Pool B, and to be brutally honest, the odds of making it past the preliminaries are slim on paper.
Saizul Hafifi Noor's charges, however, earned their right to line up at the Coventry Stadium by finishing among the top-two Commonwealth teams at the Asian meet last year.
Having been deprived of international competition for about two years due to Covid-19, the squad are hungry to compete, and their recent form suggests they are well-prepared.
The squad unexpectedly reached the semi-finals of the Sixways Sevens in Worcester last week and followed it up with a comfortable win in a friendly against Newport High School Old Boys on Saturday.
It remains to be seen whether they can put a dent in their opponents at the Commonwealth Games. Only the top-two teams in the group will advance to the quarter-finals.
Malaysia Rugby (MR) honorary secretary Amrul Hazarin Hamidon is aware of the tough task in Birmingham.
"We have not set a target for the boys as they will be competing against the best teams in the world. We have to be realistic," said Amrul.
"It is, however, still important for us to send them to compete there.
"Our goal is to close the gap to the stronger teams in Asia. The experience in Birmingham will be beneficial in the long run.
"We hope to see them put up a strong fight and try to score as many tries as possible."
Malaysia were also drawn alongside South Africa and Scotland at the 2018 Gold Coast edition.
The squad lost all three of their group matches, losing 43-0 to South Africa and 41-0 to Scotland. They scored their only try in the tournament against Papua New Guinea (31-5).