KUALA LUMPUR: Fitness coach Tom Drowley left the Malaysian men and joined the women's outfit after the Hangzhou Asian Games last year. And after seven weeks, he sees not only a fitter but also a fighting squad as well.
And fitness is going to help coach Nasihin Nubli's women to avoid being the punching bag in Spain.
The Malaysian women will play in the Valencia Olympic Qualifier on Jan 13-21, and fitness is going to help them from being whipped by higher-ranked teams Britain (7th), Spain (8th) and Canada (16th) in Group B.
Malaysia are ranked 18th, and qualified for the Olympic Qualifier by finishing fifth at the Asian Games.
"I have been with the women's team for seven weeks now and even though more could be done to improve their fitness, time is not on our side, and we have prepared them as best as possible.
"Their fitness is better than when they played at the Asian Games and from what I have seen, this team is also decked with talent like Amira (Nuramirah Shakirah Zulkifli), Kirandeep Kaur and young goalkeeper Linda (Nur Hazlinda Zainal). And in the next Asian Games, Malaysia has a good chance of breaking into the semi-finals," said Drowley.
Drowley, who was hired in March 2022, has the distinction of helping the Britain women's team win gold in the 2016 Rio Olympics and bronze at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
He was handling the men's senior and junior sides before being attached to the women who are coached by Nasihin Nubli.
Malaysian women's best achievement at the Asian Games was third in New Delhi, 1982 and fourth in Seoul, 1988. They did not play in the next four Games and were fifth five times from 2006 to 2022.
"In Valencia, we will be banking on fitness to defend and counter attack when possible as our opponents are much more experienced. During the two friendly matches against New Zealand (lost 6-0 and 5-0) my players were outplayed in the first match but fitness helped them to hold NZ for long periods and the five goals were all from poor clearance in the semi-circle.
"I believe with more exposure at the international level, this set of players will be able to break into the semi-finals at the 2026 Asian Games," said Nasihin.
Nothing much is expected from Nasihin's team in Valencia, except to give a good fight and possibly upset Canada, who are closest ranked to them, at the group stage.
