KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia failed to achieve their target of winning the women's Indoor Hockey Asia Cup in Chonburi, Thailand.
The team could only finish third after overcoming Indonesia 4-0 on Thursday.
Hosts Thailand, regarded as minnows in field hockey, won the title following a stunning 6-2 victory over Kazakhstan, securing their spot at next year's World Cup 2025 in Croatia.
Two years ago, Malaysia were also third.
Coach Rodzhanizam Mat Radzi confirmed that the target was to win the title and qualify for their first World Cup.
The Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) must do a post-mortem and identify the reasons behind the failure in Chonburi.
The team hardly had any friendly matches ahead of the tournament, with minnows Singapore being their only sparring partners.