Displaying amazing flair and superb ball skills, India pulled off a brilliant 3-1 victory over hosts Malaysia to clinch the Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Tournament here in Ipoh. It was India’s fourth Azlan Shah victory. The earlier wins had come in 1985, 91 and 95.

New Zealand held off a fighting Pakistan side to clinch an exciting 2-1 victory and claim the third spot in the 18th Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey tournament here on Sunday in Ipoh.

Hosts Malaysia played out a fighting 1-1 draw against New Zealand to enter their third Sultan Azlan Shah final here in Ipoh. Malaysia will now meet India in the final on Sunday.

Flair and precision were sacrificed on the altar of robustness and experimentation. But it was India who managed to find a winner in Sandeep Singh who flicked India into the final beating Pakistan 2-1 here in the Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Tournament in Ipoh. It was India’s fifth entry into the Azlan final.

Going by the results of some of the recent matches played between India and New Zealand, an Indian victory seemed to be the most obvious result, when the two teams faced each other for their third match of the Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey tournament. India had got the better of the Black Sticks in four of the last six matches played. The remaining two had ended in a stalemate.

Well, we have a history against the Polish. Rewind back to the 2000 Sydney Olympics and needing a win against Poland to advance to the Olympics semi-finals, we drew and crashed out of the competition. There was a certain Dhanraj Pillay in that unlucky team.
Yesterday, against the Egyptians, there was a Polish element in the form of their coach Jerzy Wybieralski. And in the Indian team, there was Dhanraj Pillay too as technical manager.

Yet again a soft start for Harendra Singh's boys as they were held 2-2 by the lowest ranked team in the competition in their opening match at the Azlan Shah Stadium here on Sunday.