Fitri Saari says Malaysia’s Asian Games hockey defeat to India cost the team both gold and an automatic LA28 Olympic qualification spot
NAGOYA: Missing out on the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games men’s hockey gold medal and an automatic ticket to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games (LA28) has left national player Fitri Saari feeling the pain of two missed targets.
Fitri said both objectives had been the national squad’s main ambitions before the campaign began, but Malaysia had to settle for silver after losing 1-5 to defending champions India in the final at Gifu Prefectural Green Stadium yesterday.
“Both really hurt because we were targeting gold and qualification for the Olympics.
“We knew our main challenge would be India. Pakistan have improved as well, but we have already beaten them, so one hurdle has been cleared. Against India, we tried our very best. So, it really hurts,” he told reporters yesterday.
The defeat meant Malaysia missed the automatic LA28 berth awarded to the Asian Games men’s hockey champions and will now have to go through the Olympic qualifying tournament.
Fitri acknowledged that the qualifying tournament would be another tough challenge as Malaysia are expected to face strong teams from other continents.
“We have to go through the Olympic qualifying tournament. There are other strong teams, including from Europe. We don’t know; perhaps the Netherlands, Spain and other strong teams. So, we will try our best in the Olympic qualifying tournament,” he said.
Reflecting on the final, Fitri said Malaysia were able to match India in the first two quarters before their performance began to dip due to lapses in decision-making.
“As a player, I have done my best. All the players have done their best. We know India have an advantage because they are the defending champions.
“In terms of preparation and budget, they are far ahead of us. But we tried to compete with them. In the first and second quarters, we were still able to challenge them. When we entered the third and fourth quarters, we were lacking in decision-making,” he said.
Fitri said Malaysia must improve several aspects of their game ahead of their next assignment, particularly penalty-corner defence and their finishing in attack.
“We have to be better, especially in defending penalty corners. In attack, we also have to be more clinical in the D. If we have opportunities to score, we have to take them and score,” he said.
Malaysia will next turn their attention to the Asian Champions Trophy (ACT) in India from Oct 27 to Nov 5 before continuing preparations for the Olympic qualifying tournament.
