Sultan Azlan Shah Cup: India crush Malaysia’s hope of retaining record
IPOH: Malaysia’s dream to retain a 100 per cent winning record and stay on top of the table in the 28th edition of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey championship were dashed as they lost 2-4 to India tonight. In the match at the Sultan Azlan Shah Stadium, India scored the first goal in the 17th minute by Sumit who completed Hardik Singh’s attempt.
The Indian team then earned five consecutive penalty corner strokes but failed to be perfected by Amit Rohidas. Malaysia won three consecutive penalty strokes and resulted in an equalizer in the 21st minute by Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin through a third penalty corner.
India, however, seemed to be more aggressive and did not wait long to return to Malaysia when Sumit Kumar easily pushed the ball from Sumit’s cross from the right, six minutes later. Malaysia scored a fifth penalty corner in the 30th minute but failed to finish the match by Faizal Saari.
The Indian team continued to play a fierce battle with a penalty corner shot three times in a row. And in the 36th minute, Varun Kumar managed to add to the third goal of the team. Malaysia managed to position itself by Gurinder Singh in favor of Firhan Ashari in the 38th minute.
However, India managed to secure a fourth goal by Mandeep Singh who secured the cross of Sumit Kumar in a 58th-minute counter-attack. The fierce competition of both teams saw Malaysia earn up to eight strokes of the penalty corner while India had nine strokes. The Roelant Oltmans squad will meet the leaders of the tournament, South Korea, tomorrow night, a team that has not lost in this edition
