Neither Wales side has been in the EuroHockey A Division since it was reduced to eight teams more than a decade ago.
The nation’s women were playing in the third tier just four years ago.
Wales captain Abi Welsford told BBC Wales Sport: “We put everything we could into the performance and just ended up on the wrong side of the result. They had a few more penalty corners than us and they took their chances well. We’ll take heart in the way we performed and will be aiming for a third place finish now.”
Head coach Kevin Johnson added: “We can be very proud of the way we tried to play the game. Every time we go out and play we want to be a better team and we’re doing that. We’re on a quest to push up the world rankings and continue to gain ranking points. This tournament has already been a success for that.”