ROURKELA: Shahmie Irfan Suhaimi, 20, scored the winner in a tense 3-2 battle against Japan today to help Malaysia finish joint 13th at the Hockey World Cup at the Birsa Munda Stadium in Rourkela, India.
Going by the weird format formulated by the International Hockey Federation (FIH), Malaysia will share the unlucky 13th spot with the winners of the France-Chile match.
"Overall it was a good win against Japan, and even though we did not achieve our mission (quarter-finals) the statistics show promise.
"We played six matches and won three, lost two and drew one (2-2 against Spain and lost 4-3 on shoot-out).
"And in 24 quarters, we only had two bad quarters against South Africa (first 30 minutes). The issue for me is that we lost the wrong match (South Africa) and that has placed us in the bottom (and not 9th-12th).
"I am still proud of my players, because its not easy, each game is hard work and they fought till the end.
"We could have been in the quarters of this World Cup, and that is the positive we will take into the next tournanent," said Malaysian coach Arul Selvaraj.
It was Shahmie's fourth appearance in the World Cup, and he seems to be growing with confidence after every match.
Malaysis took the lead off a Shello Silverius penalty corner rebound in the eight minute but Japan's Kaito Tanaka equalised in the 24th.
Seren Tanaka then gave the Rising Sun a 32nd minute lead, but in the same minute, Shello acored a field goal to make it 2-2.
And then it was Shahmie's moment under the spotlight, as he scored a 34th minute field goal and Malaysia held on to dear life after that.
Shahmie played well in the Sultan of Johor Cup, and when the senior team was hit by a host of injuries, juniors coach Amin Rahim recommended the lanky lad to be the 20th player for the World Cup.
For this tournament, 18 plus two extra players were allowed to be registered, and when Shahril Saabah picked up a hamstring early in the tournament, Shahmie was shoved to the forefront.
The son of a former Olympian, Suhaimi Ibrahim who played in Sydney 2000 and scored two goals, did not disappoint his father as he scored one shoot-out goal against Spain and now a field goal against Japan.