09 January 2004	Friday	16 Ziqa'ad 1424

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 8: Pakistan began their campaign with a 4-2 win over South Korea in the Azlan Shah Cup hockey opener here on Thursday.

But Pakistan coach Roelant Oltmans read his team the riot act after the defending champions outclassed South Korea. Two strikes from Rehan Butt and one apiece from Mohammed Nadeem and Shabbir Hussain were enough to secure victory for the Pakistanis against the Korean 2002 Asian Games gold medallists.

But Oltmans was far from satisfied after a porous display from the Pakistan defence. "It was a good win but I am not too happy with our performance especially the defence," Oltmans said. "There were just too many mistakes made by the defenders and this is something we can ill afford if we want to do well."

Missed chances proved the difference between the two sides, with Pakistan deadly in front of goal as South Korea squandered a string of opportunities.Korea went on the offensive from the first whistle but were unable to turn their domination into goals.

The Pakistanis absorbed the early pressure and relied on counter attacks and the tactic bore fruit as they took the lead in the 14th minute through Rehan whose hit slipped under the leg of South Korean goalkeeper Ko Dong-Sik.

Pakistan should have doubled their advantage in the 26th minute when Shakeel Abbasi broke through the middle only to lift his shot above Ko and the bar. The Koreans however equalized through Seo Jong-Ho a minute before the break.

Pakistan opted to attack when play resumed in the second and were duly rewarded through goals from Nadeem (39th minute) and Rehan (42nd minute) to take a 3-1 lead.

However Korea reduced the deficit through Lee Jung-Seon who converted a penalty corner in the 43rd minute. Try as they did the Koreans just could not get the better of Ahmad Alam in the Pakistan goal and while they were too engrossed in searching for the equalizer, the Koreans left gaps in their defence.

And Shabbir made the most of some good work by Rehan on the right flank to score the fourth goal two minutes before the end of the match. Reigning world champions Germany got off to a winning start when they defeated an inexperienced Indian team 3-1 later.

Two goals in the first 10 minutes set the Germans on the road to victory.Bjorn Michael opened scoring in the 5th minute by converting a penalty corner and skipper Florian Kunz doubled the advantage three minutes later by sending an unstoppable flick into the top left hand corner of the Indian goal, leaving keeper Adrian Souza helpless. But it was not an easy win as the Indians took the game to their more experienced opponents, reducing the deficit through a penalty corner strike by Sandeep Singh in the 20th minute.

Germany, however, were undeterred and a third goal from Michael in the 45th minute through a penalty corner clinched the win. In the final match of the day hosts Malaysia came from behind to force a 3-3 draw against Spain.

Spain's Pol Amat Escude scored the fastest opening goal of the tournament so far with only 30 seconds on the clock. But the Malaysians were undeterred and came out of their normal defensive strategy to take the game to the Spaniards, and their efforts were rewarded when skipper S. Kuhan converted a penalty corner in the 7th minute.

Spain replied when Alex Fabregas Carne scored with a flick that Malaysian keeper S. Kumar failed to stop cleanly. Two minutes into the second half Malaysia were again on level terms when Kuhan got the better of Spanish keeper Bernardino Herrera. However, Spain made better use of their possession and Santiago Freixa Escude, who scored in every game at the European Championships in September last year, found the mark to give the Spaniards a 3-2 lead in the 51st minute.

Malaysia lost direction after that and failed to break the Spanish defence, and only in the last five minutes showed some initiative and forced a penalty corner with a low flick from Kuhan.

Friday's fixtures:

India v Pakistan; Spain v Australia; Germany v Malaysia.

Pakistan 4 South Korea 2

Germany 3 India 1

Spain 3 Malaysia 3-AFP