17th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup Hockey Tournament: Pakistan beat Malaysia 3-2
Posted by amarpreet41 on May 12th, 2008
* New Zealand beat India 4-3 g Argentina defeat Belgium 2-1IPOH: World number six Pakistan beat Malaysia 3-2 in their opening match of the 17th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup Hockey Tournament at the Azlan Shah Stadium here on Thursday.
The Malaysian side made a promising start when forward Kevinder Singh slammed home a loose ball in Pakistan’s “D” in the first minute but Pakistan scored their equaliser through Muhammad Ateeq from a penalty corner in the 22nd. A minute later, Malaysia went in front again through penalty corner speaciallist Mohammad Amin Rahim. However, Pakistan levelled the score in the 28th through Rehan Butt who flicked home a cross and got the winner in the 60th when Muhammad Saqlan coverted from a penalty corner.
Earlier, New Zealand and Argentina registered their opening match wins against India and Belgium respectively. New Zealand clinched a narrow 4-3 win against India whereby all three goals by India were converted by penalty corner speciallist Sandeep Singh in the 14th, 20th and 60th. New Zealand’s goals were scored by Andrew Hayward (penalty corner, 22nd), Simon Child (field goal, 35th), skipper Philip Burrows (field goal, 45th) and Gareth Brooks (field goal, 54th).
In another match, Argentina made an upset by beating Belgium 2-1. Argentina scored first through Ezequiel Martin Sosa’s field goal in the 33rd but Belgium equalised through Jerome Truyens in the 54th. The winner came from a penalty corner by Tomas Argento Innocente in the 60th.