Malaysia pull off a Kiwi draw

THE National team pulled off a 1-1 draw against New Zealand in the Sultan of Johor Cup at the Taman Daya Stadium yesterday.
The hosts, beaten 2-1 by Australia on Saturday, will next meet a super-fit South Korea tomorrow.
Malaysia started at the receiving end, when Russel Kane gave New Zealand an early lead in the ninth minute off a penalty corner attempt and the score stood until the breather.
The only laudable miss from Malaysia was in the 20th minute, when Syamim Yusof blew a sitter, and then the penalty corner battery failed to score a corner won 40 seconds from half-time.
After the re-start, Malaysia kept on earning penalty corners, a total of six, but the stubborn Kiwi defense held on tightly until the 62nd minute.
That was when a pass from Fitri Saari was deflected home by Amir farid, who was lurking at the far post, to draw level and the score stool until the final hooter.
Pakistan and India again suffered defeats when they lost 2-1 and 3-2 to South Korea and Australia respectively.
It was a better show from India compared to their first match where they lost 6-4 to Korea despite a 4-0 lead after 35 minutes.
"It was a great display of attacking hockey from both teams and we were a shade lucky that they ran out of time in the end. I am impressed with the play of our opponents and really some of them could be in their senior side real soon," said Australian coach Paul Gaudoin.
"But we need to improve on our basics as there were a lot of basic mistakes which allowed them possession of the ball. Overall it was a good win though we can and ought to play much better."
Australia took only eight minutes to take the lead when Daniel Beale scored. India replied in the 24th minute after some fine work on the right by Gurinder Singh who set up Ramandeep Singh for an easy tap in.
But Australia regained the lead in the 29th minute when Josh Walters punished the Indian defence for a sloppy show, and made it 3-1 in the 50th minute off a penalty corner rebound from Cameron Joyce.
Ramandeep Singh scored India's second in the 66th minute, but time ran out on them to pull off an equaliser.
In another match, South Korea had to bring out their best to beat Pakistan 2-1. The Korean goals were scored by their skipper Yang Ji Hun (20th) and Lee Jung Jun (24th). The Pakistan goal was scored by Muhammad Adnan in the 53rd minute.

RESULTS: South Korea 2 Pakistan 1, Australia 3 India 2, Malaysia 1 New Zealand 1.
TUESDAY: New Zealand v Australia (4pm), Malaysia v South Korea (6pm), Pakistan v India (8pm).
WEDNESDAY: South Korea v Australia (4pm), India v New Zealand (6pm), Pakistan v Malaysia (8pm).
FRIDAY: Australia v Pakistan (4pm), New Zealand v South Korea (6pm), India v Malaysia (8pm).

P W D L F A Pts
S KOREA 2 2 0 0 8 5 6
AUSTRALIA 2 2 0 0 5 3 6
N ZEALAND 2 1 1 0 2 1 4
MALAYSIA 2 0 1 1 2 3 1
PAKISTAN 2 0 0 2 1 3 0
INDIA 2 0 0 2 6 9 0