KUALA LUMPUR: The national women’s hockey team have been set a top-four target in the Asia Cup, which will be held at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil from Sept 21-27.
Eight teams will feature in the tournament. Malaysia are in Group A with defending champions China, India and Hong Kong.
Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Kazakhstan are in Group B.
The winners of the tournament will gain an automatic berth to the 2014 World Cup in The Hague, Holland, from May 31-June 14.
The national women’s team have never featured in the World Cup, with their best-ever achievement in the Asia Cup being a third placing in Seoul in 1985.
Coach Mohd Nasihin Nubli said that although they planned to play 25 matches prior to the Asia Cup, “we have only played nine so far this year”.
They played four matches in the second round of the World League in New Delhi in February and five against the Western Australian Institute of Sports in Perth last month.
“The good news is that we’ll play six friendlies against the South Korean National Sports University from Aug 14-21 in Bukit Jalil in preparation for the tournament,” said Nasihin, a former national goalkeeper.
“We also expect to play two more matches against the Asian teams just before the Asia Cup begins next month.”
There are 22 players in the training squad and four will be dropped in the second week of September.
Nasihin, who has been coaching the women’s team since 2011, picked China as the strongest team in their group and the favourites to reach the semi-finals.
“We have a fighting chance against India and Hong Kong to reach the last four too,” he said.
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