Malaysia finally ended their winless streak in their tour of Argentina by defeating the reigning Olympic champions 2-1 in their final hockey test match in Buenos Aires on Friday.
The Speedy Tigers, playing in their sixth match against the home side, took the lead in the match via a field goal from Shahril Saabah in the 18th minute before Haziq Samsul doubled the advantage, also from a field goal, four minutes later.
Argentina managed to reduce the deficit via Pedro Ibarra, who converted a penalty corner in the 41st minute.
National head coach Stephen Van Huizen was delighted with the victory, especially after failing to win in the previous five matches.
Malaysia lost 0-1, 1-6, 2-7, 1-2 in first four matches in Mar Del Plata, before sharing the spoils in a 1-1 draw in the fifth test match in Buenos Aires.
"They tried every trick and pushed us to work very hard for the win. Our physical condition was much better after the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games and the tempo of the games was very high," Van Huizen said.
"All the hard work in the last three weeks helped the players to play till the end."
The test match is part of Van Huizen’s task to form a formidable national squad to prepare for the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games, where the Speedy Tigers are aiming to win a gold medal and book an automatic slot to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
