India rally to hold Malaysia

India began their campaign in the Sultan Azlan Shah hockey tournament with a hard-fought 2-2 draw against hosts Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.

The Indians were twice in arrears but they rallied splendidly to earn an honourable draw.

All the four goals came off penalty-corners. Mohd. Madzli and Maninderjit Singh scored for the hosts while Dilip Tirkey and Daljit Singh Dhillon were on target for India.

In the opening match of the tournament, favourites Australia beat defending champions Pakistan 5-3, before Sydney Olympic silver medallists South Korea could down England 2-0.

Malaysia attacked from the start and earned three penalty-corners in the first 11 minutes. The third resulted in a goal. After foxing the Indian defenders with some fine passing, Madzli fired past goalkeeper Devesh Chauhan to give Malaysia the lead.

The Indians were restricted to the mid-field in the first 15 minutes but gradually started raiding the rival penalty area. They earned three penalty-corners in the 15th, 17th and the 30th minutes but failed to capitalise on any of them.

They finally restored parity in the 32nd minute from their fourth penalty-corner. Dilip Tirkey's powerful shot brooked no reply from Malaysian goalkeeper Roslan.

Tight marking by the Malaysian defenders saw the Indian forwards find the going tough in the second half. Bimal Lakra and Ignace Tirkey tried hard to build some moves in midfield but their attempts were nullified by the alert Malaysians. Even Dilip Tirkey came up with the risk of leaving the defence open. His hard shots found the stick of Deepak Thakur, who, however, was unable to make good the chances.

Malaysia forced three penalty-corners in the 46th, 55th and 57th minutes. The 57th minute penalty-corner resulted in a goal, when Maninderjit Singh's shot went off the goalkeeper's pads.

With Malaysia leading 2-1, and the Indian forwards looking a bit tired, it seemed the hosts would hang onto the lead. But in the 63rd minute, India found the equaliser off their fifth penalty-corner. Dilip Tirkey's shot rebounded off the goalkeeper's pads and Daljit Singh Dhillon was at hand to flick home.

India had another attempt at goal in the 66th minute but Mukesh Kumar's shot was wide off the mark.

Malaysia threatened to steal the match-winner in the last minute with two penalty-corners but the Indians defended well to take a point from the match.

India play Germany on Friday.

Australia, third in last year's Sydney Olympics, proved too good for Asian powerhouse Pakistan.

In a rematch of the bronze medal game of the 2000 Games, they took the lead in the 10th minute through Matthew Smith, who scooped the ball over Pakistan goalkeeper Ahmad Alam after making a solo run, and were always in control of the proceedings.

Pakistan found an equaliser within three minutes though their penalty-corner specialist Sohail Abbas, who fired home off their fifth penalty corner, but Michael McCann gave Australia a 2-1 half-time lead by scoring in the 17th minute.

Three minutes into the second-half, Australia were up 3-1, when Troy Elder finished off a penalty-corner set-piece move. Elder was on target again in the 44th minute, scoring from a penalty stroke to make it 4-1.Five minutes later, Smith scored his second goal of the match (5-1) to put the Aussies in command.

Pakistan pulled two goals back in the 51st minute -- through Atif Bashir -- and the 66th minute -- through M. Nadeem, but that was all they could manage against the well-organised twice champions.

Olympic silver medalists South Korea used their superior fitness to subdue England with a goal in each half.

. They took the lead in the 14th minute, when Yeo Woon-kon flicked the ball past England goalkeeper Jimi Lewis following a penalty-corner, but had to wait till the 47th minute to score again after Hwang Jong-hyun put the ball home from a goalmouth scrimmage.

England had their chances to emerge with at least a point but captain Craig Parnham was just unable to get the ball into the goal from a couple of penalty-corners.

League Table:

Teams	Australia	England	Germany	India	Malaysia	Pakistan	South Korea	Points
Australia	--					5-3		3
England		--					0-2	0
Germany			--					0
India				--	2-2			1
Malaysia				2-2	--			1
Pakistan	3-5					--		0
South Korea		2-0					--	3