M'sia edge India 3-2 for first win in Sultan Azlan Shah Cup tournament

Malaysia edged India 3-2 on Wednesday for their first win in the 24th edition of the prestigious Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament.

In the match played at the Sultan Azlan Shah Stadium here after a delay of about an hour due to heavy rain, Faizal Saari opened scoring for Malaysia in the 17th minute via a penalty corner.

However, India levelled the score when Rupinder Singh also converted a penalty corner three minutes later.

Egged on by a 5,000-strong home crowd, the Malaysian players went into overdrive and found the lead again when Muhammad Haziq Samsul netted Malaysia's second in the 35th minute.

But India upped the ante and forced four penalty corners in succession with the lanky Rupinder Singh again converting the fourth in the 51st minute.

Seven minutes later, Mohd Shahrun Nabil Abdullah dashed all of India's hopes when he netted the winner.

Malaysia have two more matches to go in the preliminary round, against South Korea and Canada.

Malaysia's coach Tai Beng Hai, speaking to reporters afterwards, said he was satisfied with the performance shown by his charges.

"They players rose to the occasion tonight," he said.

Meanwhile, in the other matches played on Wednesday, Australia defeated South Korea 5-2 while New Zealand thrashed Canada 5-0.

Malaysia lost their opening match to New Zealand 2-4 and were edged 3-2 by Australia in their second match.