KUALA LUMPUR: After enduring a tough start to the weekend, the national men's squad bounced back strong to secure a fifth-place finish in the second leg of the Asia Rugby Sevens Series in Hangzhou today (Sept 22).
The Bunga Raya squad defeated Singapore 24-10 in the plate semi-finals before beating United Arab Emirates 17-12 in the final to finish fifth overall from the eight teams in the Asian top-tier.
It was sweet revenge as Malaysia had lost 22-7 to UAE in the group stage yesterday. The national team had also lost their two other pool B matches to heavyweights Japan (40-12) and China (35-0).
National team coach Nik Safuan Ismade Nik Man said it was the result they were hoping to achieve but highlighted the need for improvement.
Malaysia had finished sixth in the opening leg of the Sevens Series in Incheon, South Korea earlier this month.
"Alhamdulillah we have achieved our target of finishing fifth for this tournament," said Nik.
"But in terms of performance, we are not quite there yet.
"There are a number of areas which we need to work on. My goal is to prepare a strong squad for the Thailand Sea Games next year as well as the 2026 Nagoya Asian Games, which are our main target competitions."
Hong Kong edged Japan 24-19 in the cup final while China reaffirmed their status as one of the new powerhouses in Asia by thumping South Korea 38-0 in the third-place playoff.
The women's competition saw Malaysia beating UAE 24-17 to finish seventh overall from eight teams after earlier losing 12-5 to Singapore in the plate semi-finals.
Malaysia had also placed seventh in the opening leg earlier this month.
The third and final leg of the Sevens Series will be held in Bangkok, Thailand on Nov 9-10.
On a separate note, Asia Rugby earlier this week announced a multi-year sponsorship deal with Emirates airline which will see the latter becoming the title sponsor across Asia Rugby competitions.