Indian men beat Malaysia 4-3, to face Oman in 5-6th place game

New Delhi: Malak Singh scored a brace as India edged past Malaysia 4-3 in a hard-fought encounter to register their second win in the men`s competition of the third Asian Champions Trophy hockey tournament at Kakamigahara, Japan on Friday.

Apart from Malak (41st and 51st minute), Ramandeep Singh (4th minute) and Mandeep Singh (54th minute) were the other goal-scorers for India. Malaysia scored through Azreen Rizal Bin Nasir (10th minute) and Faizal Saari (12th and 67th minute). It took the Indians just four minutes to open the account when Ramandeep scored a field goal. India`s joy was shortlived as Malaysia drew parity six minutes later with a field strike from Azreen Rizal Bin Nasir. Two minutes later, Malaysia doubled their lead with a Faizal Saari goal to stun the Indian and go into the breather with a 2-1 lead. India made a strong comeback in the second half and levelled the score in the 41st minute through a field goal from Malak. Malak was once again in the thick of things when he scored his second goal of the day 10 minutes later to put India 3-2 ahead. Three minutes later Mandeep scored another field goal for India neatly beating Malaysian defenders and goalkeeper Kumar Subramaniam. Malaysia managed to reduce the margin three minutes from the hooter with a field goal from Saari. India will now play Oman for the fifth-sixth position match on Sunday. Pakistan and Japan will lock horns in the summit clash, while Malaysia and China will face each other in the third-fourth place classification match.