M'sia Go Down 2-3 To India

IPOH (Perak, Malaysia), May 29 (Bernama) -- Malaysia went down 2-3 to India in front of about 10,000 partisan crowd in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup Hockey Tournament here Monday night. Despite Malaysia's ferocious attacks at the outset of the match, India led 2-0 at halftime through counter attacks. Danish Mutjaba put India ahead from a field goal in the 10th minute before Shivendra Singh converted a penalty corner three minutes later. Malaysia reduced the deficit after the breather when Muhammad Amin Rahim scored from a penalty corner in the 40th minute. However, a lapse of concentration proved costly to Malaysia when Khandker Tushar increased India's lead to 3-1 in the 44th minute. Malaysia clawed back into the game and Muhd Fitri Saari Asakan's stinging shot sent India's goalkeeper Chetri Barat flatfooted in the 59th minute to make the final score 3-2. National coach Tai Beng Hai said he was satisfied with the performance put up by Malaysian players and was confident that they could rebound in the next game. "Anyway, they need to improve some of the weaknesses to win the next game," he said. In another match, Argentina beat Britain 3-2 to enable them to climb the ladder to the second spot. Argentina scored from field goals through Matias Peredes (eight and 41st minutes) and Lucas Cammareri (49th minute). On the other hand, Britain's goals came from penalty corners by Ashley Jackson (39th and 65th minutes). Pakistan suffered their second defeat when they were trounced 4-0 by South Korea in a match that had to be stopped for 15 minutes due to heavy downpour. South Korea's Nam Hyun Woo converted penalty corners in the 18th and 44th minutes while You Hyo Sik and Hyun Hye Sung scored from field goals in the 49th and 61st minutes respectively. -- BERNAMA