Time still favours Malaysia

or not, here we come, Asian Games!

National coach Stephen van Huizen said yesterday he still has about 10 days to rectify some of the chinks “discovered” during the five-match friendlies in Perth against Australia A.

Even though Australia A were made up of state and former national players, Malaysia lost 6-1, 3-2, 4-2 and 3-0. Their only “silver lining” Down Under was a 2-2 draw.

“We have prepared as best we can for the Games, and we still have time to rectify the faults which caused us problems during the recent Tour of Australia.

“We leave for Indonesia on Aug 16, and it’s four days before we play Indonesia.

“We have matches against Thailand and Bangladesh as well before we play our toughest match in Group B against Pakistan. The final group match is against Oman.

“So, we still have time to settle down,” said van Huizen.

Malaysia are looking for their first gold medal at the Asian Games to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. However, history has favoured India, Pakistan and South Korea.

Malaysia’s best finish was in 2010 Guangzhou, China where the national team lost 2-0 to Pakistan in the final.

Since men’s hockey made its Asian Games debut in 1958, Pakistan have won eight gold, India three and South Korea four. No other nation has stood at the top of the podium.

Group A is made up of India, South Korea, Japan, Sri Lanka and Hong Kong.

“We will name the final 18 next week and the target is still to top our group and go for gold. The Australian Tour has not changed our goal to qualify for the Olympics,” said Olympian van Huizen.