Foto Facebook Malaysian Hockey Confederation. Copyright Rodrigo Jaramill.KUALA LUMPUR - The national men's hockey squad chose the difficult path to end their 24-year drought of qualifying for the Olympic stage after losing 1-4 to Great Britain in the group stage competition for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Muscat, Oman early this morning.
It was the second consecutive defeat for A. Arul Selvaraj's men at the Oman Hockey Stadium after losing to China 2-3 in the first match of Group A yesterday.
The result was recorded in the match early this morning and saw Great Britain, which is ranked fourth in the world, top the group standings with six points.
Meanwhile, China in second place shares three points with Pakistan in third place while Malaysia is at the bottom without any points.
However, China, Pakistan and the national squad each shared the same number of goals.
The Speedy Tigers have no choice but to beat Pakistan by a big margin and hope Great Britain beat China in the final group game on Friday to finish in the top two of the group to qualify for the semi-finals.
The 2024 Olympic Qualifying Tournament, in Muscat is the final stage for all teams competing at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games with the top three teams of the tournament earning slots to the world's biggest games.
