Hockey: New Zealand lose to in-form hosts

New Zealand lost 2-4 to hosts Malaysia in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup international men's hockey tournament in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday.

Ranked 10th in the world, New Zealand trailed throughout against the only team ranked below them of the seven participating nations.

The hosts, who are ranked 11th, have, however, shown their liking for playing at home and are leading the tournament after taking maximum points from their three games.

"That's indicative of how well they're playing here," New Zealand coach Robin Wilson said of the Malaysians. "We actually did reasonably well but it wasn't enough.

"It's a fine line, winning and losing here. We conceded a soft goal very early in the piece, which meant we were always playing catch-up hockey after that.

"To be honest and fair, they deserved to win overall but we did do a little better as the game went on. They're playing as well as I've ever seen them play."

Auckland teenager Ryan Archibald scored New Zealand's first goal from a penalty corner and Greg Russ converted the second.

New Zealand, who were to play fifth-ranked Pakistan early this morning, lost 1-4 to South Korea, ranked second in the world, in their opening game and then drew 1-1 with eighth-ranked Canada.

New Zealand are using the tournament as their final preparation before next month's Olympic qualifying tournament in Japan.

- NZPA