May 14, 2007	Monday	Rabi-us-Sani 26, 1428

IPOH (Malaysia), May 13: Australia regained the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup by defeating Malaysia 3-1 in the final of the 16th edition here on Sunday.

The reigning Olympic champions, who have won the trophy four times before, proved far superior to the Malaysians and three field goals in the second half were enough to win the title.

The Malaysians were playing in their first final since 1983 but an over-defensive approach cost them the match. The Australians were quick on the attack and did not allow the Malaysians any respite.

Young forward Edward Ockenden was the hero, scoring the first two goals in the 39th and 41st minutes. He was named man-of-the-match.

Russell Ford then added the third goal in the 53rd minute while Malaysia scored a consolation goal in the 70th minute through Jiwa Mohan.

Malaysian coach Sarjit Singh said the Australians deserved to win.

“They were much better today as they managed to get past our defensive strategy. Still, it has been a learning curve for the players and they will benefit from this outing. The Australians are always a difficult team to play and it was no different today,” he said.

India finished third by defeating Asian champions South Korea 1-0 in the play-off match for third place, also on Sunday.

A first senior-level goal for his country from Sardar Singh in the second half proved enough for the Indians to notch a narrow win over the Koreans.

The Indians were the dominant side in the first half and had many chances to score.

But all their hard work in getting the ball into the Korean “D” was wasted by poor finishing. India also had three penalty corners.

A quick counter-attack in the 56th minute allowed the Indians to snatch the winner. Roshnan Minz made the pass for the goal after dribbling past three Korean defenders.

The Koreans had three penalty corners but each time Indian goalkeeper Bharat Kumar managed to palm them away.

Indian coach Joaquim Carvalho was happy with the win but felt that the performance was flat.

“It is a good finish to the tournament but we still have a lot of work to do. This is just the start for the team. We have next the Champions Challenge in June and then the Asian Cup in September.

“We have to get back to work on rectifying the mistakes identified here and improve on several areas to be better. Overall I'm happy with the showing, which showed a lot of promise,” he added.

Australia's Andrew Smith was named the tournament's best player and China's skipper Song Yi took the top scorers' award with six goals in the tournament.

Argentina were awarded the fair play trophy.—AFP