By IANS,
Ipoh (Malaysia) : India moved into the final of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament after a gap of 12 years with a thrilling 2-1 win over hosts Malaysia in their last round-robin league match here Saturday.
Goals from Shivendra Singh (9th) and Sandeep Singh (10th) put Indian in the driving seat in the first half while a last minute strike from Mohammad Amin Rahim helped Malaysia reduce the margin.
India, who have 12 points with the win, will now face Argentina (14) in the final Sunday.
India started the tournament on a sorry note by losing the first two matches against Argentina and New Zealand but then pulled up their socks to turn things around and the win over the hosts was their fourth consecutive victory.
India were on attack mode throughout the game and tried to keep the hosts under control. The visitors got a chance to open the scoring in the first few minutes after Sunil made a solo run and took his shot, which failed to clear Malaysian goalkeeper Subramanian.
India opened the scoring in the ninth minute when Sandeep Singh’s shot from outside the Malaysian circle was deflected in by Shivendra Singh.