Tun Abdul Razak Cup: It's three in a row for Perak

KUALA LUMPUR: Perak won their third Tun Abdul Razak Cup in a row after defeating Pahang 5-1 at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil last night.

The victory saw Perak become the second most successful team in the tournament with 12 championships, behind Kuala Lumpur who have 16.

S. Jagatheesan's squad began fiercely, opening the score in the second minute through Muhammad Hafizal Halmi before Syed Mohammad Syafiq Syed Cholan added another from a penalty corner in the 29th minute.

Muhammad Akram Hakkam Jamaluddin's field goal in the 36th minute made it three for Perak, and the onslaught continued with Syed Mohammad Syafiq's penalty corner goal in the 41st minute and another from Saiful Sharil Saiful Bahri two minutes later.

Pahang finally got on the scoresheet through Muhammad Idris Samad in the final quarter of the match, but it was too little too late.

Jagatheesan told reporters after the match he was very satisfied with the performance of his players and felt that they deserved it after all of the hard work they had put in.

"I am proud to be the coach of the Perak team, because Pahang just won the Malaysia Games (Sukma) last month but my team (Perak) have managed to prove that they are the best team to achieve the goal of a hat-trick (three cup wins in a row) in the men's category," he said.

Earlier, Melaka defeated Johor 3-1 in the third-place match.

Meanwhile, Selangor emerged champions of the women's category after beating Melaka 3-2 at the same venue.

Pahang beat Penang 8-2 to confirm the third place.

-- BERNAMA