Asian Champions Trophy: Gritty Korea hold Malaysia 3-3; both stay in contention for semis

In edge-of-the-seat action that went down to the wire, Korea scored a late goal to hold Malaysia to a 3-3 draw in a high-octane match here at the on-going Hero Asian Champions Trophy in Moqi Hockey Training Base, Hulunbuir, China on Saturday. After this match, Korea remained at No.3 on the points table while Malaysia continued to stay on No.4.

With weekend crowds arriving to the stadium early for the last day of the league matches, Korea and Malaysia lived up to the billing with both teams fighting it out till the last hooter.

It was goals by Azrai Abu Kamal (28'), Norsyafiq Sumantri (35') and Faizal Saari (55') that kept Malaysia in the lead until Yang Jihun scored his second goal in the 60+ minute. He had earlier scored in the 4th minute to give Korea a 1-0 lead while Cheoleon Park (42') scored the second goal for Korea.

The match was dominated by Malaysia from the start, as they made ambitious forays into the circle and took as many as 13 shots on goal in the opening quarter. However, it was Korea who reaped from the defencive errors their opponents made as they earned a PC early in the game. In-form Jihun Yang made no mistake in pumping the ball into the net.

In the following quarter, Malaysia was able to make amends to a poor conversion rate as they scored from only three chances they created in the circle. It was Kamal Abu who scored a fine field goal and equalised. They took a 2-1 lead in the 35th minute when Sumantri scored another field goal. Korea was able to make it 2-2 in the 42nd minute through Park's field goal.

The match remained tense as it went into the final quarter. With both teams pushing for winning points, Malaysia upped the ante in their attack and won a flurry of PCs and were able to convert in the 55th minute through their ace dragflicker Faizal Saari. But to their bad fortunes, Jihun scored from the PC Korea won in the final seconds of the match, thus ending the game in a draw and split a point each.  

Malaysia skipper Marhan Jalil adjudged Hero of the Match

Hero of the Match, Marhan Jalil said, "It was an important match for us to stay in contention for the Semifinals but it was unfortunate that we conceded a last-second goal that helped Korea split the points with us. Hopefully we still have two more matches for us in this tournament and will look forward to give it our all."

Matches will be live on Sony Sports Ten 1 SD & HD in India.