Midfielder Mohamed Shahrun Nabil was Malaysia’s saviour when he scored in the last seconds of each half from field attempts. The other Malaysian scorers were Mohamed Amin Rahim and Jiwa Mohan.
National coach Sarjit Singh termed the draw as lucky but insisted that they are still on track to reach this Sunday's final.
He added that for the second consecutive day the team did not play well and he was at a loss over the poor form of the players.
“I just cannot understand it. Italy played well but we were not in the game and could not convert the chances. We also gave away far too many balls in our half and this proved costly. If we had lost it will be all over but I believe we will make the cut for the final,” said Sarjit after the match.
He added that goalkeeper S. Kumar was also nervous but he could not replace him as Malaysia had registered only one goalkeeper for the match. Reserve goalkeeper Mohamed Hanafi Hassan and defender S. Kuhan, who has a groin injury, were left out of the 16 for the game.
Malaysia went into their first ever meeting in world hockey against Italy with a 2-1 win over Poland from the opening match while their opponents had lost 0-8 to Germany on Saturday.
Italy took the lead against the run of play in the 11th minute when Alessandro Nanni scored from their first penalty corner of the match.
Malaysia fought back to find the equaliser in the 35th minute when Shahrun picked up a loose ball to slam it home just before the horn.
Jacopo Lunetta put Italy ahead in the 45th minute when he deflected in a penalty corner attempt. Malaysia were on level terms barely a minute later when Mohamed Amin scored from a penalty stroke.
Jiwa gave Malaysia the lead at 3-2 from a penalty corner flick.
Then disaster struck in the space of two minutes which saw Italy took the lead again.
Daniele Malta scored the equaliser from the penalty corner in the 64th minute and a quick counter attack two minutes later allowed Massimo Lanzano to slot home from close range.
And it looked like the Italians were going to win until the final minute when Nabil flicked the ball in off a goalmouth melee for a face-saving draw.
The Germans and Japanese lead the table standings with six points after two matches while the Malaysians are in third place with four.
Sarjit said that their next three matches will be crucial and they have to win at least two to stay in the hunt for a final berth. Their remaining matches are against Germany, Switzerland and Japan.
World champions Germany continued to flex their muscles when they whipped Switzerland 10-0 in their second match to stay on track for the Beijing Olympics.
Timo Wess and Florian Keller scored a hat-trick each while Mattias Witthaus scored a brace in yesterday's win. The other two goals came from Benjamin Wess and Philip Witte.
Germany have now scored 18 goals in just two games without conceding any. The Germans are expected to face a tougher challenge when they play Malaysia tomorrow while Switzerland will be looking to raise their spirits with a victory over Poland.
Japan also stayed on course for a final spot when they defeated Poland 6-1 in their second match of the tournament. On the opening day the hosts had beaten Switzerland 2-1.
Poland had taken the lead in the 11th minute when Tomasz Dutkiewicz converted a penalty stroke.
Japan drew level in the 22nd minute through Akira Ito from a penalty corner variation. From then on the Japanese did not look back. They took full control with Yoshida Kazuo giving them the lead in the 35th minute through a penalty corner flick.
This was followed by second half goals from Kenichi Katayama (45th), Yoshihiro Anai (52nd), Takahiko Yamabori (60th) and Hiroki Sakamoto (63rd)
The losses effectively ended the hopes of Poland and Switzerland. Japan play Italy tomorrow and then take on Germany and Malaysia.
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