Third silver for Malaysia

The victorious India team with the Azlan Shah Cup after beating Malaysia 3-1 in the final yesterday. — Pic: MUHAIZAN YAHYA

MALAYSIA were resigned to their third silver medal in the Azlan Shah Cup when India beat them 3-1 in Ipoh yesterday.

A freak goal, and a disputed decision, was the order of the day as the hosts added another silver to the ones the won in 1985 and 2007.
The Azlan Shah Stadium in Ipoh was filled to the brim with a crowd of at least 12,000 who braved the rain to watch Malaysia give their best but India were in no mood to do them any favours.
Malaysia played as a team with a vision to convert their two silver into gold, but were dealt an early blow when India scored a freak goal in the eighth minute.
Arjun Halappa ran along the sideline of the Malaysian goal and made a pass to the centre. The ball met Malaysian defender Baljit Singh Charun's stick and was deflected into goal.
But with solid crowd support, Malaysia started to look more dangerous and their attacks were also well co-ordinated.
And it was no surprise that the equaliser came in the 11th minute from a goalmouth melee with Azlan Misron giving the hosts a life-line.
India were reduced to a defensive side, and only made occasional attacks after Malaysia had equalised, but nonetheless regained the lead.
This time, Prabhjot Singh took advantage of a 20th minute confusion in the Malaysian circle to push the ball in.
The score remained 2-1 in India's favour until the breather, but with a promise of more action after the break.
And the pace in the second half never slowed down with both sides looking to kill the game early. Malaysia came the closest in the 39th minute when Azlan had a one-on-one with India goalkeeper Baljit Singh, but failed.
India increased their lead to 3-1 in the 41st minute when the umpire Deon Nel of South Africa blew for a penalty corner and the Malaysian players stopped playing, but Shivendra Singh took a reverse stick shot and the umpire reversed his decision and blew for goal leaving the hosts stunned.
That goal killed the game's passion and, not surprisingly, Malaysia found the India goal sealed shut for the remainder of the match.
In the match for third placing, New Zealand beat Pakistan 2-1.
The Kiwis took a 2-0 lead through skipper Blair Hopping (12th) and Joel Baker (13th) but Pakistan pulled one back in the 35th minute off Shakeel Abbasi.

RESULTS -- Final: India 3 Malaysia 1; Third-Fourth: New Zealand 2 Pakistan 1.
ROLL-OF-HONOUR: 1 India, 2 Malaysia, 3 New Zealand, 4 Pakistan, 5 Egypt.
Man-of-the-Match: Arjun Halappa (India)
Top Scorer: Sandip Singh (India, 7 goals)
Best Goalkeeper: S. Kumar (Malaysia)
Player of the Tournament: Sandip Singh (India)
Fairplay: New Zealand.