Sepang: The national men's junior hockey team made a grand start to their 2026 Junior Asia Cup campaign in Moqi, China, thrashing Kazakhstan 8-0 today.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, the match at the Moqi Training Base saw the Young Tigers needing just a minute to open the scoring through a field goal by Rahul Fazrien Nazrien. Malaysia, who won the tournament in 2012, doubled their lead within a minute when Safwan Salihe converted a penalty corner, before Rahul scored his second field goal in the 32nd minute.

The team coached by Nor Saiful Zaini Nasiruddin continued to pile on the misery for their opponents through a field goal by Faiz Afnan Faizal in the 39th minute, while Muhammad Aizat Akhera scored Malaysia's fifth, also from a field goal, five minutes later. Kazakhstan's goalmouth was breached again as Gagandeep Singh scored a field goal in the 48th minute, followed by another field goal from Shafiq Ammar Fahmi three minutes later, before G. Dheeressh rounded off a superb performance with Malaysia's eighth goal in the final minute.

Malaysia will play Bangladesh tomorrow, followed by a meeting with three-time champions Pakistan on Sept 8, before concluding their group campaign against hosts China on Sept 9. Only the top two teams from each group will advance to the semi-finals.