By IANS
Ipoh (Malaysia) : India lost 1-2 to Malaysia in the semi-final of the 16th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey here Friday.
Indian players went into the match to redeem their past glory but failed to do so. They will now have to fight it out for the third spot Sunday with South Korea, who were thrashed 2-6 by Australia.
Malaysia took the lead in the sixth minute with a Selvaraju strike but the lead was shortlived as India fired the equaliser in the next three minutes via a Shivendra strike.
The match was locked at 1-1 in the first half but a late strike in the second half sealed the match in Malaysia's favour, who made it to the final for the second time after a gap of 22 years.
India had to blame themselves for the debacle as they made some unforced errors and missed few easy chances. Shivendra was guilty on a few easy chances and the defence line looked like a hapless lot and was lucky enough not to concede more goals on a few occasions.
Meanwhile, Olympic champions Australia extended their supremacy over Asian Games gold medallists South Korea with a 6-2 win to enter the final of the eight-nation tournament.
Goals by Desmond Abbot (9th, 69th), Andrew Smith (22nd), Liam Deyoung (37th), Eli Matheson (51st) and Grant Schubert (60th) set up the Aussie victory while Korean replies came from Jeong Yun Sang (11th) and Lee Sung Min (57th).
As the scoreline suggested, the Australians were a far superior side as they played a brilliantly and mesmerised the Koreans whose shaky defence was cruelly exposed by their ruthless opponents.