IPOH: Egypt pulled off a stunning upset on the opening day of the 18th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup when they scored a last minute goal to draw 2-2 with Asian Champions India.
The 20th-ranked Egyptians are making their debut in the field hockey tournament and their draw with the former world powerhouse was their first ever at the international stage.
Egypt’s Polish coach Jerzy Wybieralski was ecstatic about the draw and felt that they deserved it.
It is a good result for Egypt and I think this is the first time in history we have managed it. There is no question that there was an element of luck in the draw but you need that at this level, he said.
It was an all round effort from the players and we made better use of the chances.
Egypt scored in the eighth minute through a quick counter-attack with Mohamed Hassan hitting home.
It took the Indians 14 minutes before they scored, coming through Sandeep Singh’s penalty corner.
Shivender Singh gave India the lead with a field goal in the 50th minute.
But 40 seconds before the hooter went off the Egyptians earned their second penalty corner of the match and Amr El Saied scored to take a precious point from the match.
India’s coach Harender Singh said his players performed well below par.
You do not expect to win matches with this kind of performance. I do not have any answers now but we will evaluate the performances later when we get back to the hotel, he said.
You would expect one or two players to be off-form but not the team to play at this level. It is a worry for me that we came off second best today and letting victory slip through our fingers with 40 seconds on the clock, he said.
In the second match Malaysia pulled off a 3-2 victory over Pakistan 3-2.
It was only the third win for the Malaysians over the world ranked number eight side since the first win in 1986 at the Asian Games – their other win was in 2002 in Busan also at the Asian Games.
The Malaysians opened the scoring in the eighth minute with Mohamed Amin Rahim flicking home a penalty corner. But Shakeel Abbasi equalized a minute later.
Mohamed Sharun Nabil put the home team back in front with a field goal in the 29th minute and against the run of play Azlan Misron added the third in the 48th minute.
Abbas Haider pulled a goal back in the 68th minute but the Malaysians dug deep and held out for a famous win.
Pakistan coach Shahid Ali Khan complimented the Malaysians for a strong fight and singled out goalkeeper S. Kumar for his sterling performance.
There is no doubt that Kumar made the difference with his saves in the second half, he said.
We played a bit defensively in the first half and only started attacking after they had taken a 3-1 lead. It was a good lesson for my team and the players will learn from this defeat.
We have another tough match against New Zealand tomorrow and we hope to bounce back from the defeat, he added.
The week-long tournament will end on April 12. Argentina won last year. -AFP
