Azlan Shah Cup: Green Shirts down India, Australia go top

Round-up of matches on day 5 (11 May 2011)


Australia 4 (Timothy Deavin, Mark Paterson 2, Glenn Turner) beat South Korea 2 (You Hyo-Sik, Hyun Hye-Sung) - Half-Time 2-1

Top-ranked Australia beat South Korea 4-2 to reach at the top of the points table at Ipoh in the 20th Azlan Shah Cup. Timothy Deavin put Australia int0 lead as early as in the 12th minute. Mark Paterson made it 2-0 four minutes later.

You Hyo-Sik signaled South Korean fight back by scoring in the 15th minute. Glenn Turner score 3rd goal for his team to give them two goal’s advantage. Hyun Hye-Sung reduced the margin in the 39th minute, but despite valiant effort by Koreans, Australia sealed the win through Mark Paterson’s goal in the 67th minute.

Australia are now one-point clear of 2nd placed Britain, and they are the only unbeaten team in the tournament so far.

New Zealand 3 (Nicholas Wilson, Hugo Inglis, Stephen Edwards) beat Malaysia 2 (Mohammad Izzat, Faisal Saari) – Half-Time 1-1

Malaysia had heartbreak against spirited Black sticks, as they lost through a last-minute goal despite defending brilliantly throughout. Nicholas Wilson opened for New Zealand in the 16th minute, but Mohammad Izzat equalized in the 30th minute through a field goal. Hugo Inglis put his team into lead, but Malaysia came back on equal terms through Faisal Saari’s penalty corner goal. In the dying moments Izzat conceded an unnecessary penalty corner, and to Malysia’s worst fears Stephen Edwards converted in just seconds before the final whistle. The loss meant Malaysia are still without any point in the Cup.

Pakistan 3 (Umar Bhutta, Mohammad Imran, Sohail Abbas) beat India 1 (Rupinder Pal Singh) – Half-Time 1-0

Pakistan came into this crucial match, needing at least a point to stay in contention, hoping to break jinx of losing against India off late. In the last 18 months, India has three wins to nil against Arch rivals. Match started slowly but gathered pace as nerves eased up on both sides.

In the 16th minute, Shivendra put the ball into Pakistan’s goal after it had rebounded off a penalty corner shot from Mahadick but Umpires disallowed the goal. Six minutes later, penalty corner specialist, Rupinder Pal Singh gave India lead through his customary corner conversion.

Sohail Abbas wasted Pakistan’s first penalty corner in 26th minute, as his shot went wide of the side bar. Rupinder Pal was denied by Imran Shah at the stroke of half-time to keep India’s lead to a solitary goal. Pakistan started the second half in high speed and almost dictated terms, but missed a chance or two before equalizing through Umar Bhutta’s goal in the 49th minute.

In the 55th minute, Mohammad Imran converted a penalty corner to give Pakistan lead and put the crowd at Ipoh on their feet. Two minutes later, Sohail Abbas sealed victory for Pakistan as India failed to come back into the match.