KUALA LUMPUR: Pakistan skinned the Speedy Tigers and romped into the semi-finals of the Olympic Qualifier in Muscat, Oman, yesterday.
Malaysia could only get a 3-3 draw, and this led to the Olympic door being slammed shut on coach A. Arul Selvaraj and his men.
After Britain had trounced China 6-0, all Malaysia had to do was to beat Pakistan by two goals for a semi-final place.
But a penalty stroke awarded to the Speedy Tigers was sent straight into the goalkeeper's pads by Razie Rahim in the third quarter, and that was the turning point towards disaster.
The coaching set-up, as well as the players, can come out with 50,000 excuses but the fact is they failed to take the country to the Olympics since the 2000 Sydney Games.
Malaysia's goals were scored by Fitri Saari (20th), Azrai Aizad (30th) and Firhan Ashari (41st) while Pakistan scored through Sufyan Khan (23rd), Ammad Butt (33rd) and Ashraf Rana (52nd).
Pakistan will meet Germany while Britain will play New Zealand in the semi-finals.
Malaysia will next play in the 5th-8th classification against Chile on Saturday.