Australia, S.Korea draw leaves finals wide open

IPOH: World champions Australia and South Korea drew 2-2 in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup on Thursday, leaving the fight for the finals berths wide open with five teams in contention.

Australia or Korea could have put themselves in a good position to qualify for the final had either won the match, but now the two finalists will be decided on Saturday, in matches on the final day of the preliminaries.

Australia will play China while South Korea meets Pakistan. India has Egypt in its sights while Malaysia has completed its fixtures but needs to wait for Saturday’s results to know its fate.

Australia scored goals through Kieran Govers in the fifth minute and Matt Ghodes in the 48th minute.

The Koreans were on target through a Nam Hyun-woo penalty corner in the 25th minute and a goal from Ro Jong-hwan in the 58th minute.

Earlier Pakistan kept up its chase for a place in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup final with a 6-2 win over Egypt. Pakistan now has eight points and will complete its fixtures on Saturday with the match against South Korea.

India, who did not play today, is set to grab one berth as they need to beat Egypt on Saturday in their last group match.

Besides Pakistan, Australia and South Korea, host Malaysia is also in the mix for the other berth and goal difference will be the decider.

Pakistan coach K.M. Junaid said it had been crucial that his team should win with a big margin against Egypt.

“But the lack of concentration in the later stages allowed Egypt to score. Goals are going to play a big part on who goes to the final. This is a good tournament with a level playing field,” he said.

“Four teams are fighting for one berth. It is a great battle and we will see it going to the last match.”

In the match against Egypt, Pakistan went ahead in the 12th minute when Muhammad Touseeq scored a field goal. Six minutes later it was the turn of Mohamad Zubair to double the advantage for Pakistan.

Skipper Muhammad Imran converted Pakistan’s first penalty corner in the 28th minute to put Pakistan firmly in the driver’s seat.

In the second half they increased their advantage. Haseem Khan was on target in the 40th minute before Muhamad Waqas made it 5-0 two minutes later.

Egypt missed a penalty stroke in the 49th minute when Mohamad Amr fumbled the attempt but two minutes later Mohammad Hassan scored for the Egyptians. It was only their second goal in five matches.

Haseem Khan, however, increased the tally to 6-1 by scoring in the 51st minute but Egypt had the last laugh when Hassan scored in the 70th minute to keep the score down.