By T.S.V. Hari, IANS
Chennai : Malaysia came back from a three goal deficit to hold Pakistan to a 3-3 draw and all but denied them a place in the semi-finals of the BSNL Asia Cup men’s hockey tournament at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium here Wednesday.
Pakistan went ahead in the 17th minute through Shakeel Abbasi who added another nine minutes later, converting passes from the right flank. Two minutes before the inerval, Akhtar Ali made it 3-0 for Pakistan.
But Malaysia were a different side after the break.
T Ahmad Tajuddin found the target in the 43 rd and 57 th minutes to reduce the deficit for Malaysia.
Finally the umpire, Jang Jung Min of Korea confounded everybody by awarding a penalty stroke to Malaysia, duly converted by Megat Azrafiq.
Pakistan are likely to play only for the minor placings. They needed to win by six-goal margin to make the last four but now must depend on Singapore winning their Thursday clash against Japan.
After the match, a dejected Pakistan coach Islahuddin Siddiqui laid the blame squarely on umpires Jang and Chen Dekang of China.
“We ought to have been awarded two penalty strokes but the opposite happened in the dying stages of the game,” Siddiqui said.