Kuala lumpur: The national women's junior hockey team bowed out of the 2026 Women's Junior Asia Cup after losing 1-0 to South Korea in the quarter-finals today.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, Jung Sebhin scored South Korea's winning goal via a penalty stroke in the 50th minute, ending Malaysia's campaign in the tournament. The defeat saw head coach Mohd Nasihin Nubli Ibrahim's squad fail to advance to the semi-finals after earlier competing in the Elite Group stage, where they suffered losses to China, India, Japan, and South Korea.

Malaysia opened their campaign with a 6-1 loss to hosts China on September 4 before being beaten 11-1 by defending champions India on September 6. The Young Tigresses then lost 1-0 to South Korea on September 7 before falling 5-0 to Japan yesterday. However, all five teams in the Elite Group had already confirmed their quarter-final berths under the tournament format, with the remaining three slots filled by the top teams from the Challenge Group.

The Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) had set a key target for the team to secure one of five qualification berths for the 2027 Women's Junior World Cup. Mohd Nasihin said despite the defeat today, his players displayed strong fighting spirit and solid defending throughout the match. "With this kind of spirit, even though we are an inexperienced and young team missing three key players who joined the Asian Games squad, all the players here showed their quality," he said in a video shared by MHC today.

The Young Tigresses are scheduled to face Bangladesh in the fifth-sixth place classification match at 10 am this Saturday.