India hold Australia 1-1

INDIA held World No 1 Australia to a 1-1 draw, but for coach Ric Charlesworth, it was a defeat in the Azlan Shah Cup in Ipoh yesterday.
"We lost, I mean the draw was just like a defeat for us as we had five penalty corners and could not score while they only had one and scored," said Australian coach Ric Charlesworth
India coach Harendra Singh Singh was glad with the draw, but was peeved by the overall poor umpiring in the tournament.
"We drew a crucial game because the umpiring was not up to standard," echoed India captain Arjun Halappa.
"I fail to understand. We have seven strong teams here, with four that have qualified for the Olympics, but still the best umpires were not selected for the tournament.
"This is not good beause team management, players and coaches have worked hard to get ready for this tournament, but as you can see, both Australia and India were punished by poor umpiring today (yesterday)," said Harendra.
India were down by the 14th minute, when Jacob Whetton scored a field goal, but they nailed the equaliser off Rupinder Singh's penalty corner attempt in the 23rd minute. It was his fourth goal in the tournament after a hat-trick against Great Britain.
India play Malaysia today: "It will be a difficult match, but I believe we have a good chance as my team has started playing for the full 70 minutes in the last two games," said Harendra.
Malaysia will play without skipper Madzli Ikmar, who suffered a compound fracture on his cheekbone in the bruising match against Australia.
In another entertaining match, Great Britain beat a fighting Pakistan 3-2 with the goals coming from Robert Moore (eighth), Jonathan Clarke (39th, 63rd).
The Pakistan goals were scored by Sohail Abbas (31st) and Hassem Khan (64th).