MALAYSIA needed the tonic from 11-time Azlan Shah Cup veteran Chua Boon Huat to beat South Korea 3-2 in a highly entertaining match in Ipoh yesterday.
After taking the lead, Malaysia allowed Korea to claw back in, but Chua's brace saved the blushes for the hosts.
The parking bays were full, and the Azlan Shah Stadium was reverberating with deafening sounds of vuvuzelas as the fans cheered Malaysia to start on the right footing.
And there were some magical early moments, only for the final connect to go haywire as experienced players like Chua Boon Huat, his 11th Azlan Shah Cup, missed.
And after 12 minutes, coach Paul Revington brought in Baljit Singh to defend and Faizal Saari and to attack, together with Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin, as the Koreans looked like they had settled issues with their jittery start.
And by the 18th minute, Malaysia were down to nine-men as Baljit and Razie Rahim, both defenders, were shown the green card but the Koreans could not capatalise on the situation.
Malaysian finally won their first penalty corner in the 20th minute when Shukri Mutalib was brought down by Lee Seung Hoon.
The Korean runners were focused on Razie, the No 1 flicker, but the ball was pushed towards Faizal Shaari who almost tore the netting for the first goal of the tournament.
And as the half-time hooter blew, Malaysia had the lions's share of possession but only one goal to show, while the Koreans did not even win a single penalty corner or a shot at goal.
After the restart, Malaysia were again blunt in finishing off their chances, while the Koreans had started making inroads by the 50th minute.
The script changed in the 57th minute when Korea won their first penalty corner and Nam Hyun Woo made it count to equalise.
But the veteran Boon Huat almost saved the day with a reverse stick goal in the 68th minute only to see Yoon Sung Hoon equalise in the 69th minute.
But Boon Huat, refused to share points and deflected the winner in the 70th minute to send the crowd into wild celebrations.
In another match, World No 2 Australia struggled to beat India, even after taking a 3-0 lead, only to win by a slim 4-3 margin.
Asutralia created an early cushion with goals from Matt Ghodes (24th, 39th) and Glenn Simpson (38th) and even though India fought back gallantly, Trent Mitton's 53rd minute goal denied them.
The India goals was scored by Rupinder Pal Singh (40th, 68th) and Malak Singh (51st).
Malaysia play New Zealand today, and Kiwi coach Colin Batch said: "It will be interesting against Malaysia tomorrow (today) as we played them twice already this week ( NZ won 3-2 then lost 3-2) but this is the one that counts, and we aim to win it this time around.
"The noise level affected the players and I expect it to be higher tmorrow and the players need to adapt."
In the first match of the day, Pakistan beat defending champions New Zealand 4-3.
A hat-trick from Muhammad Imran (19th, 28th, 58th) and Abdul Haseem Khan's (21st) goal handed them the three points.
New Zealand, down 3-0, fought back to level at 3-3 with goals Kane Russel (30th), Blair Tarrant (52nd) and Andy Hayward (56th); but Pakistan ruled the day.
RESULTS: New Zealand 3 Pakistan 4, Australia 4 India 3, Malaysia 3 South Korea 2.
STANDINGS
P W D L F A Pts
AUSTRALIA 1 1 0 0 4 3 3
PAKISTAN 1 1 0 0 4 3 3
MALAYSIA 1 1 0 0 3 2 3
INDIA 1 0 0 1 3 4 0
N ZEALAND 1 0 0 1 3 4 0
KOREA 1 0 0 1 2 3 0
