Asian bronze for Malaysia

took the long road to win the Asian Champions Trophy bronze when they edged Japan 32 in a penalty shootout in Muscat, Oman on Sunday.

In the final, India and Pakistan were declared joint-champions after a storm hit Muscat just before the final.

After waiting for more than an hour followed by a meeting among the officials of both teams and Technical Director Brian Fernandez of Malaysia, it was decided that declaring a joint-winners was the best option.

Earlier, Malaysia were held 2-2 by Japan, but Japan failed in their first two shootout attempts while coach Roelent Oltmans’ men delivered on both.

Aiman Nik Rozemi, Norsyafiq Sumantri and Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin scored in the shootout.

During regular play, Kenji Kitazato (18th) and Hirotaka Wakuri (48th) scored for Japan, while Faizal Shaari was the hero with two goals (20th, 47th).

Oltmans said: “We lost the last encounter with Japan on a shootout (Asian Games final), but we won this one.

“Glad to have won our last match, but I would have liked to be in the final.”

Japan coach Seigfried Aikman said: “Today was not our day. It was one of the days when everything you do goes wrong.”

In four editions, India and Pakistan had won the title two times each.