19 June 2004	Saturday	30 Rabi-us-Saani 1425

HAMBURG, June 18: Sohail Abbas and Lee Jung Seon converted penalty corners for Pakistan and South Korea to draw the first match of the Hamburg Masters 1-1 here on Friday.

Germany and Argentina are the other two participants in the tournament and play later.

South Korea absorbed Pakistan's pressure for the first 10 minutes, pinned down in its own half with no quality possession in attack. Pakistan could not manage a shot on goal despite the advantage of possession and Korea weathered the storm to keep Pakistan without a shot on goal in the match.

Ji Seong Hwan had the only penalty corner chance of the first half for South Korea, saved on the left glove by Salman Akbar in Pakistan's goal. Sohail converted Pakistan's only penalty corner of the match three minutes into the second half, a low drag-flick into the left pocket using his favourite conversion spot for his first attempt in a match.

South Korea applied pressure to Pakistan's midfield and broke through with 40 metre passes from the backfield to Song Seung Tae, Seo Jong Ho and Yoo Hyo Sik near Pakistan's defensive quarter line.

Song made two poor shots on goal with only Salman to beat while Seo and Yoo both hit wide of goal. South Korea's penalty corner goal came from it's third attempt after 15 minutes of sustained pressure with Ji Seong Hwan missing the flick and Lee converting from the loose ball at the top of the circle with four minutes to play.

Pakistan's coach Roelant Oltmans appreciated the strength of South Korea's play. "South Korea is not an easy team for Pakistan to play. Pakistan has lost a number of matches against South Korea in the last few years such as in the Asia Cup. They are also the fittest team in the world," Oltmans said.

Oltmans believes the match did not reach the best standard the teams can achieve. "It was not the best performance we have seen from both sides, to be honest, and a draw is a reasonable result," Oltmans said.

Pakistan have been working on improving its striking at goal. "We have put a lot of attention on our attacking in the last couple of days and it was disappointing we were not capable of getting shots on goal and that is something we need to improve," Oltmans said.

Korea's coach Hong Jeon Jae acknowledged the improvement in Pakistan's performance. "Pakistan is a very experienced team and they are stronger now than I thought they would be," Hong said. -AFP