BASED on the provisional list of teams for the final round of the Olympic Qualifiers, Malaysia are expected to face a tough task in making it to Tokyo next year.
The World No 12 will play either former world champions Germany, Britain, Spain or New Zealand depending on the luck of the draw.
Being a lower-ranked team, Malaysia will have to play away from home in the qualifiers in October.
But there might be slight changes to the list depending on the outcome of next month’s Oceania Cup between Australia and New Zealand.
The FIH said: “The draw to determine the matches of the Olympic qualifiers will be held on Sept 9 in Lausanne, Switzerland.”
The top eight teams on the list are Australia, Netherlands, India, Germany, Britain, Spain, New Zealand and Canada.
Malaysia, France, Ireland, South Korea, Pakistan, Austria and Egypt are the bottom-ranked teams.
“We knew from the start that it will not be easy. We will have to beat one of the top 10 teams in the world to play in Tokyo.
“And to make sure, we have to win the first leg convincingly and not wait for the next 60 minutes to make a move,” said Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) president Datuk Seri Subahan Kamal yesterday.
Subahan believes the national team are prepared for the challenge. The team were sent to Europe and Japan for friendly matches recently.
Their best result was beating World No 7 Germany 4-2.
As for the women’s team, they lost a direct play-off spot by eight points to Russia and will have to wait for South Africa to announce whether they will go to Tokyo or withdraw.
The South African women’s team may not go due to the country’s strict guidelines for the Olympic Games.