KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 14: Sohail Abbas's equaliser helped Pakistan keep their unbeaten run intact and book a spot in the Azlan Shah Cup hockey final despite being held to a 1-1 draw by Malaysia on Wednesday.

But it was not a vintage performance from the defending champions as the hosts put up a sterling display to keep the potent Pakistan strike force at bay.

There were fears of a last minute defeat for the Malaysians when Pakistan were awarded a penalty corner 47 seconds before the end of play with the score tied.

But Malaysian keeper Roslan Jamaluddin pulled off a spectacular save to deny Sohail Abbas. Malaysia had taken the lead in the 42nd minute through skipper S. Kuhan, who converted Malaysia's only penalty corner in the match.

But Sohail ensured that Pakistan kept their unbeaten run in the tournament intact by scoring in the 48th minute, also off a penalty corner. Germany came from three goals down to hold Spain to a 4-4 draw.

With the draw Germany only needs one point from its final preliminary round match against Australia on Friday to advance to Sunday's final against Pakistan. But while the score was impressive, the match failed to live up to its billing as a repeat of the European Championship final last September in Barcelona, where Germany triumphed on penalty strokes in extra time after the match ended in a 1-1 draw.

Spain were the early aggressors and took the lead after just four minutes when Alex Fabregas worked his way on the right and sent in a cross into the semi circle, giving Santiago Freixa an open goal to aim for.

The Germans rallied and managed to find the equaliser in the 10th minute when a break through in the middle saw Benjamin Kopp slotting home from the top of the semi circle.

In the 27th minute Spain's Pol Amat scored an easy goal as dribbled his way into the semi circle from the right and struck home with a skillful forward hit.

Two German defenders and goalkeeper Arnold Clemens made no attempt to stop the ball and just watched it go into the goal. Soon Amat was again making inroads into German territory, ably supported by Santiago, who in the 30th minute caught a long cross from David Algre and slot past the oncoming Arnold Clemens for the third goal.

By the 34th minute the Spanish looked the have the match sealed with Santiago again the scorer with a field goal. It was the striker's fifth goal of the tournament and the fourth hat trick of the tournament.

Germany relied on penalty corners to force the draw with skipper Floran Kunz scoring off two such attempts in the 51st and 66th minutes while Bjoern Michel came in with the equalizer two minutes before the end.

In the final match of the day India succumbed to their fourth defeat in the tournament when they lost to South Korea 3-2.

Thursday's fixture: Australia v Pakistan.-AFP

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