Britain edge India to lift their second Sultan of Johor Cup
jOHOR BaRU: Britain lifted their second Sultan of Johor Cup after beating India 3-2 to emerge champions.
Britain defeated India in the 2015 final and history repeated last night at the Taman Daya Hockey Stadium.
Two goals from James Oates (34th and 42nd minutes) and Daniel West (seventh) ensured it was Britain’s night of glory while India replied via Gursahibjit Singh (third minute) and Abhishek (54th).
Meanwhile, Malaysia finished fifth after a 6-3 win over New Zealand.
The Malaysians posted only their second win of the tournament after they drew 5-5 with New Zealand and edged Japan 1-0 in the preliminary round.
Once again, the Malaysians took an early lead against the Kiwis and kept up the attack till the end.
The script for the fifth-placing match seems to run like their preliminary round match. The Malaysians were 4-0 up by the 28th minute but the Kiwis attempted a fightback and the score then stood 5-3 for the hosts by the 46th minute.
The last 10 minutes saw some frantic work by both sides to try to win the match but Malaysia held firm to prevail 6-3.
Malaysian forward Mohamed Abu Kamal scored four goals (in the first, 12th, 36th and 60th minutes) while Mohamed Khalid and Mohamed Zaidi added the other goals in the 23rd and 29th minutes.
The Kiwis’ scorers were Maks Wyndham Smith (30), Kalyan Jeram (33) and Tim Neild (46).
Malaysia coach Nor Saiful Zaini said that it was good to have won another match in the tournament.
“We scored from our counter-attacks and it’s good to be able to score field goals like these,” he said.
“The players must learn to adapt to the fast game and not take it easy when leading but this, of course, comes with experience.”
For the third and fourth placing, Australia defeated Japan 6-1.