Sultan Azlan Shah Cup:

Malaysia took the lead twice but due to poor defending resulted in them settling for a 2-2 draw against Canada in the Sultan Azlan Shah hockey tournament here last night.

The Malaysia forwards were also a letdown, especially in the second half for failing to score when the team created numerous chances.

With the draw Malaysia have four points from one win, a draw and two defeats. They are in fifth position in the seven-nation tournament and getting into the playoff for third place looks doubtful.

Malaysia were pinned in defence for the first 13th minutes of the match. Canada earned a penalty corner in the seven minute but failed to convert. Five minutes later, Bindi Kullar's attempt from the top D was well saved by goalkeeper S. Kumar.

Forward S. Selvaraju made the first attempt for Malaysia at the Canadian goal in the 14th minute but his reserve stick hit went out.



Six minutes later, Chua Boon Huat had only goalkeeper Michael Mahood to beat but he muffed the golden chance.

But Boon Huat got it right a minute later. He deflected the ball into goal off a through pass from Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin.

Canada equalised four minutes later – thanks to a blunder by Kumar. He failed to clear the ball at top of the D and Sukhwinder Singh easily collected it to push into an empty goal.

Malaysia fought back and earned two penalty corners in the 31st minute and defender Mohd Amin Rahim regained the lead for Malaysia with a low flick.

The Canadian found the equaliser again in the 62nd minute off the penalty corner with Scott Tupper putting his name on the scoresheet.

Selvaraju, Tengku Ahmad and Boon Huat managed to break through the Canada defence several times in the second half but lost the ball in the D.

“We should have won the match as we created more chances. But we gave away two soft goals. The forwards also failed to click well in the D despite creating so many chances,” said coach Sarjit Singh.

“Forwards like Tengku Ahmad, Selvaraju, Ismail (Abu) and Mohd Amerullah (Abdul Aziz) must score in the tournaments to boost their confidence.”

Malaysia will play against Belgium today and wrap up their round-robin fixtures against India on Saturday.

Sarjit said that they can expect a tough match against Belgium, who chalked up a surprise 5-3 win over Pakistan yesterday.