KUALA LUMPUR: The recent trip to New Zealand served two purposes for coach A. Arul Selvaraj and his men in the run-up to the Oman Olympic Qualifier starting on Jan 15.
The first was to get strong sparring partners as European teams had dug in, into winter mode while the second was to prepare for their Group A opponents.
Malaysia, Great Britain, Pakistan and China are in Group A while Group B consists of world champions Germany, Canada, New Zealand and Chile.
Only medallists will qualify for the Paris Olympics on July 27-Aug 9.
"New Zealand were available while teams in Europe either had other obligations or were slowing down due to winter.
"We needed a strong sparring partner for the qualifier and New Zealand were good enough for us to prepare for our Group A challengers," said team manager Datuk Mirnawan Nawawi.
Malaysia played China and Pakistan twice this year, and were in top form to win 5-1 and 3-1 respectively in the Chennai Asian Champions Trophy in August.
However, in the October Asian Games, Malaysia lost 5-2 to Pakistan and were held 4-4 by China.
"The NZ Tour was to test positions and variations for the Oman Qualifier, and I believe it was a successful tour. The results varied, as NZ had used home advantage to inject fresh legs into every match while we only had the same set of players to rely upon. But still, it was a good sparring session for Group A opponents," said Mirnawan.
During the tour, World No. 12 Malaysia defeated 10th-ranked South Korea 2-1 and lost three times to world No. 11 New Zealand (3-2, 2-0, 3-0). In the final friendly, Malaysia held the Kiwis to a 4-4 draw.
There is a big possibility of Malaysia playing NZ in the medal rounds of the Qualifier.
Malaysia face China in the opener in Muscat on Jan 15 while the Speedy Tigers' second match is against world No. 5 Britain on Jan 16.
They wrap up their fixtures against Pakistan on Jan 18 before gunning for the top-three spots in the knockout.