MALAYSIA blew a golden opportunity when they were held to a 2-2 draw by India in the Asian Champions Trophy in Ordos, Inner Mongolia, yesterday.
The draw put paid to their No 2 ranking in Asia, and now they will be struggling to play in the third-fourth bracket.
Their next opponent tomorrow is Japan, who have been impressive in this tournament, and yesterday they beat China 3-1 for seven points and are now No 3 on the standings.
In another match, Pakistan beat South Korea 3-2 to top the stndings on nine points.
Malaysia went down to a Ravi Pal field goal in the ninth minute, but a penalty corner deflection by Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin in the 24th minute drew the match level again.
And then Amin Rahim gave Malaysia the lead with a penalty corner flick in the 32nd minute and Malaysia went into the breather looking good.
The start also saw Malaysia domination as they won four consecurtive penalty corners but failed the increase the lead.
The last 20 minutes saw free flowing hockey and Danish Mujtaba masde it count in the 52nd minute and India remain unbeaten in this tournament and have eight points.
India's last match is against Pakistan tomorrow.
Malaysian team manager Stephan van Huizen said they were plain unlucky: "Two Malaysian goals were disallowed by the umpire in the second half, if not we could have collected full points and be in the running for the bronze playoff.
"We also missed the golden chance two minutes from time as Faizal Saari's attempt hit the post," said Stephen.
Malaysia played five friendly matches against Japan in Bukit Jalil last month and the series ended on level terms.
RESULTS: Malaysia 2 India 2, China 1 Japan 3, South Korea 2 Pakistan 3.
TODAY: REST DAY.
TOMORROW: India v Pakistan, South Korea v China, Japan v Malaysia.
P W D L F A PTS
PAKISTAN 4 3 0 1 11 8 9
INDIA 4 2 2 0 13 6 8
JAPAN 4 2 1 1 9 6 7
S KOREA 4 2 0 2 12 13 6
MALAYSIA 4 1 1 2 11 11 4
CHINA 4 0 0 4 4 16 0