The India men’s Hockey Team rode on splendid goals by Shilanand Lakra, Gurjant Singh, who scored a brace, Sumit Kumar and Ramandeep Singh to beat hosts Malaysia 5-1 at the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup on Wednesday. With this convincing victory, they kept their hopes alive to play in the Final. Faizal Saari was the lone goal scorer for the home team as India registered their first win of the tournament.
Coming into the match after a stunning 2-1 win against Olympic Champions Argentina, Malaysia were favourites to win. But it was India who drew the first blood with an opening goal through Shilanand Lakra in the 10th minute. Indian goalkeeper Suraj Karkera did a brilliant job as he made some brilliant saves to keep India alive. Saari equalised for the hosts in the third quarter to make it 1-1.
However, in the fourth quarter, India upped the ante and smashed four goals to take the game away. India will now take on Ireland in their last round-robin match on March 9.
