KUALA LUMPUR: The rankings do not lie. And so it was the case for Malaysia in the Asia Cup indoor hockey tournament in Bangkok today.
World No 21 Malaysia could not avoid a 3-0 defeat by world No 3 Iran.
Iran scored through Mahdi Shahrokhi (fifth minute), Mohammad Asnaashari (18th) and Hamid Nooranian (35th).
Malaysia are now third in the seven-team round-robin tournament with matches remaining against Indonesia and Kazakhstan.
Meanwhile, the Malaysian women's team blasted Singapore 6-0 to top Group B and will play Indonesia in the semi-finals tomorrow.
It took Malaysia 19 minutes to break down Singapore's resistance with a strike from Fazilla Sylvester Silin before Nuraini Abdul Rashid (24th, 29th), Putri Nur Batrisyia (24th), Iren Hussin (33rd) and Qasidah Najwa Halimi (34th) punched in more goals,
"Even though the match against Singapore was just a formality as Malaysia had already qualified for the semi-finals, we took it seriously to get ready for the knockout stage.
"We will have to play a different strategy against Indonesia as they came well prepared as well," said Malaysian women's coach Rodzhanizam Mat Radzi.
