NATIONAL hockey coach Arul Selvaraj has two more hurdles to get over, starting with today’s Asian Games semi-final against Pakistan, for Malaysia to qualify for the 2016 Olympics.
Winning the gold medal in Incheon comes with an automatic ticket to Rio De Janeiro but the road ahead is fraught with difficulty.
Pakistan have long been a team Malaysia have struggled to compete with though two wins in the last eight meetings since 2012 offers hope.
For one thing, Malaysia must get their penalty corner batteries spot on, with the 4-1 win over Japan showing how useful it can be in settling a match.
Razie Rahim has scored off seven of these in four matches and Malaysia must make the set-pieces count.
“I set the team five targets to achieve when we arrived here for the Asian Games,” said Arul after Malaysia confirmed their semi-final spot.
“Two of those we achieved (by winning the first two group games against Singapore and Bangladesh and then against Japan).
“We did not get a point against South Korea as I hoped but now we have another target in front us, to beat Pakistan,” added Arul, whose final target is to win gold.
Malaysia and Pakistan met six times in 2013 — Malaysia won 3-1 in Johor Baru in a World Hockey League Semi-Finals placing match, drew 4-4 in a preliminary match of the same tournament, drew 2-2 at the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup before losing at the Asia Cup and again at the Asian Champions Trophy.
According to Timesport’s record of Malaysia-Pakistan clashes, the national team have only won five times in 73 competitive meetings since 1958.
Pakistan also defeated Malaysia 2-0 in the 2010 Asian Games final in Guangzhou.
So confident Pakistan are of a victory that their player Muhammad Waqas said they do not look at who their opponents are when preparing for a match.
“Whoever comes, it does not matter to us. We are not a computer. We just do our best,” he said.
The winners will meet either South Korea or India in the final.