Great Britain, Korea and Pakistan were the Day One winners at the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, which features seven of the top men's national teams in action.
Pakistan 4, New Zealand 2:
Pakistan defeated New Zealand 4-2, ending a run of five consecutive defeats at the hands of the Kiwis for Pakistan and gave them a good start to a tournament they hope to win.
Pakistan went on the offensive from the first whistle and came close to scoring in the second minute, but Muhammad Umar Bhutta sent his attempt wide with only keeper Kyle Pontifex to beat. However Muhammad Rizwan Senior made his shot count in the third minute to give Pakistan a 1-0 lead.
The Kiwis then got their act together but failed to get the better of the Pakistani defence marshaled by skipper Muhammad Imran. With only Stephen Jenness showing some deft touches, New Zealand failed to get a decent shot on goal in the opening 15 minutes.
To read the complete recap, click here
South Korea 3, India 2:
South Korea recovered from a 2-0 deficit to defeat India 3-2 in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup match in Ipoh on Thursday evening.
It was a remarkable performance by the Koreans as they fought every inch to defeat India who beat them to the bronze medal at the Asian Games in November last year.
In the 20th minute India struck. They were awarded a penalty corner and Diwikar Ram squeezed his shot past a despairing Lee Myung Ho in the Korean goal. There was an element of luck involved as the push was directed to Dhananjay Mahadik but he failed to stop cleanly and played it to Diwikar.
All hell broke loose in the 24th minute as the Koreans claimed that their attempt off a penalty corner had gone into goal but umpire Martin Madden of Great Britain ruled otherwise.
To read the complete recap, click here
Great Britain 3, Malaysia 1:
Though Malaysia played gallantly, it was not enough to deny Great Britain a win. In the end Malaysia went down 1-3 to Great Britain and will face an uphill task in their second match against Australia tomorrow.
Malaysia sprung a surprise, opting to play Roslan Jamaluddin in goals instead of S. Kumar. In fact Kumar was not even on the bench as Malaysia opted for 15 outfield players.
Britain took the lead in the 17th minute as James Tindall was the first to react to an initial shot from Richard Mantell's penalty corner to tuck the ball past Roslan.
And they could have scored more had Roslan not been in fine form to thwart the attempts from Richard. Mathew Daly too was a shade unlucky as his deflection in the 27th minute beat Roslan but not the upright.
To read the complete recap, click here
Source: Official Sultan Azlan Shah Cup website
