The team will play the six matches against reigning world champions Australia and Holland in Perth.
Earlier, it was thought that the matches in Australia would be against their development side as their national team are involved in a Tri-Nation meet.
However, their senior team have agreed to play four matches from Jan 29 to Feb 2, after which Malaysia will take on Holland in another two matches on Feb 4 and 5.
Team manager George Koshy was delighted to have secured the six matches.
“We will get some very high quality games and playing the best in the world is always a welcome addition to our preparations.
“Australia, Holland and Argentina are playing in a Tri-Nation meet and we are grateful to Australia and Holland for arranging the matches for us,” said George.
The squad leave for Perth on Jan 28 and return on Feb 6.
The training programme from Feb 6-28 is still not finalised. Japan were supposed to come for some matches but they have yet to make a decision.
Malaysia start their preparation for the Dublin meet with five matches against China starting tomorrow until Jan 20 at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil.
The team leave for Europe on Feb 28. They will go to Cardiff for acclimatisation and also play matches against Wales. They are expected to reach Dublin on Mar 5. The qualifier is from Mar 10-18.
Six teams play in the qualifier with only the winner getting the ticket to the London Olympics. The other teams in the fray are South Korea, Ireland, Ukraine, Chile and Russia.
George said they are happy with the matches that have been fixed.
“In the event Japan do not come we will not be unduly worried as we have the matches we need for the final phase of training. Between Feb 6-28 we can always play with the Project 2013 team to fine tune our moves.”
THE STAR
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