End of Youth Olympics dream for Under-17

THE national Under-17 rugby 7s team have failed to qualify for the 2018 Youth Olympics.

Their dream ended following a 21-5 loss to Thailand in their last group stage match.

The team, managed by Nasrul Hakim, only managed fourth place at the Asia Under-17 7s Championship in Taiwan.

Malaysia lost to the host nation 40-7 in the playoff for third placing.

Malaysia only saw one try by Shah Izwan Nordin, which was successfully converted by Shafiq Ikmal Ibrahim against Taiwan while Lee Chien-Lin’s men scored six tries.

Malaysia had started their two-day campaign on a high when they topped Pool A with 11 points to lead Taiwan by 48 points.

The national team recorded three wins against top seed Hong Kong (33-0), India (55-0) and UAE (67-0) and drew against Taiwan in a preliminary match.

Japan qualified to the Youth Olympics with a 43-0 win over Thailand in the Cup final.

The tournament featured 10 Asian nations: Japan, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, UAE, Uzbekistan, India and Taiwan.