South Korea, Pakistan set up title clash

Abbas flicked in Pakistan’s eighth penalty corner to settle the issue in favour of the three times champions who were stunned by Malaysia in the 4th minute via Mirnawan Nawawi.

Anis Mohammed struck twice in the 27th and 49th minute to give Pakistan a 2-1 lead before Kuhan Shanmuganathan levelled scores for Malaysia.

Earlier, in the see-saw first semi-final at the Bukit Jalil Stadium, South Korea burst into a 2-0 lead by the fifth minute through Shin Seok Kya (3rd) and Hwang Jong Hyun (5th).

Dilip Tirkey (9th min), Baljit Singh Dhillon (15th) and Deepak Sankhla (22nd) then fired home to put India briefly ahead 3-2 before Jeong Jong Ha (25th) scored to take the teams level 3-3 into the break.

On resumption, Dhanraj Pillay (42nd) again gave the Indians the lead, only to see it wiped out by a late effort from Kim Jung Chul (60th) before the last-minute winner from Ji (69th) gave the Koreans victory.

Playing in front of a 10,000-plus partisan crowd, the malaysian started on firm footing. They went ahead in the 4th minute when skipper nawawi latched onto a freehit, wove his way in and sent the ball crashing to the side of goalkeeper ahmed alam to the delight of the home crowd.

The match was almost on equal footing but pakistan had the edge on the penalty corners. By the 23rd minute, they had earned four of them but with malaysia’s goalkeeper roslan in full form, it was difficult going for abbas.

On the other hand, malaysian defenders bottled up the rival forwards. Atif bashir and arif mohammed just couldn’t move into the malaysian circle as the defence stood firm.

And then came the shocker for pakistan as abbas was carried off the field after he sustained a hamstring injury.

It was arif who scored the equaliser. After beating the defence on the run, he tapped past roslan who went the wrong way. He then put pakistan ahead with a field goal in 49th minute.

Both the teams played equally well in the midfield and when one thought pakistan would run out 2-1 winners, came the charge that left pakistan shell-shocked. Malaysia, desperately seeking the equaliser, forced three penalty corners in the last six minutes and off the fourth kuhan was on target.

The match went into extra-time and suddenly the hosts were doing the attacking. Two penalty corners in the 71st and 72nd minutes suddenly raised visions of the a sensational win.

Pakistan earned a penalty corner off a defensive error in the 74th minute and abbas, who was sent in a little while ago, settle the issue to the sappointment of the home crowd.