The Malaysian senior men’s hockey team concluded their tour of Europe yesterday with a 1-2 defeat in a tightly contested match against Paris Olympic-bound India at the Zwolle Hockey Club in the Netherlands.
Team captain Harmanpreet Singh found the back of the net for India in the 11th minute through a penalty corner conversion while former national junior team captain Muhammad Fariz Harizan equalised for the Malaysians from a penalty corner rebound two minutes later.
The Indians intensified their offensive pressure in the third quarter and Harmanpreet extended the lead to 2-1 in the 33rd minute from another penalty corner conversion.
National team head coach Sarjit Singh said he was satisfied with the way the players raised their game against the former Olympic and World Cup champions India in this last match of the tour.
“It was a very strong effort from all the players. We played a much better game against a formidable Indian side today. There was an inspiring all-round performance from both goalkeepers (Muhammad Zaimi Mat Deris and Che Shahrul Azmi), forwards and defenders. I believe the 1-10 defeat against Germany was a wake-up call and hit the players deep down,” said Sarjit.
“They know they did not play to their full strength in that match. Personally, I feel the score should have been 3-7 at the end of regulation time as we missed several chances. But our performance has since improved, and has been going well, including today’s encounter with India. We have identified several areas that need improvements and we will work on it when we return,” he said.
“Faizal (Saari) made an attempt to equalize in the last quarter against India only to see the ball hit the bottom of the post and go out. Had the ball gone in we would have equalised and the momentum of the game would have changed,” he added.
He observed that the tour of Europe had raised the confidence of the Speedy Tigers playing against different structures and he looks forward to the next phase of training.
“We played against the Belgium B side, Germany, the Netherlands and India national teams on this tour. All four teams are headed to the Paris Olympics in two weeks’ time. Belgium has two teams (A and B) and their players rotate to play in the FIH Hockey Pro League. We were exposed to their most experienced players,” added Sarjit.
“It is not easy to get such opportunities. We are fortunate to have friendly matches lined up against the top ranked teams in Europe and the world on this tour.” he said.
The Indians arrived in Europe much earlier to compete in the European leg of the FIH Hockey Pro League and also gear up for the Paris Summer Games.
The Speedy Tigers, ranked 12th on the world ranking table, are currently in a rebuilding phase under newly appointed head coach Sarjit following the national team’s failure to qualify for the Paris Olympics at the qualifier event held in Oman early this year.
Coach Sarjit needs to be given full credit here for how he transformed the team’s style of play after defeats against Germany and the Netherlands (0-5).
His main focus will be on the 2026 Asian Games that will be co-hosted by Aichi Prefecture and the city of Nagoya in Japan.
The team is scheduled to return from Europe on July 16 and 17.
The Malaysians kicked off their tour of Europe with a 3-2 win against a Belgium B side in Antwerp, lost 2-4 in the second, and concluded their journey with a 3-2 victory in the third match.
The next chapter of the tour was Germany. They lost 1-10 against the reigning World champions on July 7 but bounced back gallantly to secure a 9-2 victory over Monchengladbach Hockey Club on July 10.