BEIJING, Aug 11: Pakistan missed a golden opportunity to play the final of Good Luck Beijing hockey tournament here on Saturday after it was held to a 1-1 draw by Malaysia. Pakistan, following Saturday’s draw, will now play Malaysia again for the third position on Monday while reigning Olympic champion Australia take on China.

The green shirts played their last league match of the tournament under bright sunshine with temperatures soaring upto 33 Centigrade. The lone goal by Pakistan was scored as early as in the third minute of the first half when full back Kashif Ali converted the second penalty corner to send the Pakistan supporters dancing in jubilation.

At the end of the first half, though, the scores were still 1-0 and when the teams came face to face for the second session, the Malaysians regrouped to launch a series of attacks on the rivals in a match that had no bearing on their standing in the event.

Their forward line moved swiftly to eventually earn a penalty stroke against Pakistan in the 49th minute which was duly converted by Malaysian captain Jiwa Mohan to level the scores.

Speaking at the post match press conference, manager-cum-coach of Pakistan team, Islahuddin blamed lack of scoring skills to his team’s failure in making the final.

“If we don’t score, how can we win matches? We participated in this tournament to test the capability of various players and upon return, we would examine the performance of each individual,” he said.—APP