Pakistan 0 - Malaysia 0

India 1 - Germany 1

KUALA LUMPUR, March 28: Pakistan shared the spoils with Malaysia after a goalless draw in their opening match of six-nation junior invitational hockey tournament at the National Hockey Stadium on Sunday.

Pakistan, along with other five teams in the meet, are preparing for Junior World Cup in June.

The hosts matched the Pakistanis throughout the game and both had equal chance to get the goals as well.

Pakistanis came to the tournament after winning a four-nation tournament in Lahore two weeks ago. In Junior World Cup qualifying tournament last year, they beat Malaysians 5-2 in Karachi.

Malaysians showed they are capable of playing good attacking hockey but what was more impressive was their defensive play.

Goalkeeper Khairul Nizam Ibrahim was certainly hero for the hosts as he saved no less than six attempts at goal.

Unfortunately, Malaysians paid a high price for the draw as their influential midfielder Mohamed Shukri Mutalib came down with an ankle injury.

Malaysia coach Sarjit Singh was happy with the performance of players and praised their hard display.

“There is still room for improvement and we need to make our tackles harder. The goalkeeper certainly was a key factor.

“Shukri will be out tomorrow and we will have to wait for the doctor’s report on his status. But we will not risk playing him as it will aggravate his situation.”

The two players left out of list of 16 players for the match were Baljit Singh and Izwan Hassan.

There were no surprises in first 11 as the Malaysians had their most experienced players on the field.

Pakistan took the initiative and kept Malaysians pinned with their speedy play along the flanks.

But the four defenders of the hosts, Megat Azrafiq, Zulkifli Rejab, Mohamed Sallehin Ghani and Engku Abdul Malek were able to keep them at bay.

The first real chance for Pakistan came in 11th minute with their first penalty corner but Imran Warsi’s attempt flew over the post.

Two minutes later, Malaysians won their only penalty corner of the half but Zulkifli’s shot was well saved.

Pakistanis had another five penalty corners but their efforts came to nought.

The match went into overdrive after the breather as both sides tried to get upper hand but in the end they had to settle for a deserving draw.

India narrowly escaped defeat holding Germany 1-1 with the Europeans completely dominating the game.

On Sunday, England created an upset when they beat Germany 4-3. —PPI