Pakistan will face tough resistance from a rising Malaysian hockey team as the two outfits have been placed in Pool ‘A’ along with minnows Japan and Chinese Taipei in the 9th Men’s Asia Cup Hockey Tournament, which will run from August 24 to September 1 this year in Ipoh, Malaysia.

Although Pakistan is the top ranked Asian team, No 5, in the world standings, it has recently fallen way off the performance charts, their latest disaster coming at the six-nation Azlan Shah Cup where they finished rock-bottom.

On the other hand, lowly-ranked Malaysia, the world No 13, put on a brilliant show and narrowly lost the final to world No 2 Australia in the same event.

While Pakistan is likely to enjoy a relatively comfortable outing against Japan and Chinese Taipei, the out-of-form Greenshirts would not want to put anything to chance.

Meanwhile, Pool ‘B’ will see Korea, India, Oman and Bangladesh fight it out for a top spot.

The schedule of the matches will be released by Asian Hockey Federation after approval from International Hockey Federation.