S Korea, Malaysia on course

Osaka (Japan), March 12: Olympic field hockey hopefuls South Korea and Malaysia stayed on course for a place in the Sydney Games with cont...

Osaka (Japan), March 12: Olympic field hockey hopefuls South Korea and Malaysia stayed on course for a place in the Sydney Games with contrasting displays on Sunday.

South Korea, the former Asian champions, were a point away from making the trip to Sydney after a fluent 4-1 win over Britain in Group A of the qualifying tournament. The Malaysians, on the other hand, fought back from the brink to score twice in the last quarter and force a 4-4 draw with Argentina in Group B.

In the day’s third match, Spain blanked Switzerland 3-0 to remain Group B leaders with seven points from three games. Argentina appeared to have the match against Malaysia wrapped up when a hat-trick from ace striker Jorge Lombi gave them a 4-2 lead by the sixth minute of the second half.

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Lanky defender Kuhan Shanmuganathan, however, led a superb fightback in which the hosts not only drew level, but also thwarted four rival penalty corners in the last minute.

Nor Saiful hit a rebound off Kuhan’s penalty corner to make it 4-3 in the 52nd minute before Kuhan himself converted a stroke in the 64th after Saiful was fouled to draw level.

Argentina’s Lombi could not believe his team had not won. “If you can’t win from being two goals up, there must be something wrong,” he said. “I don’t think we will be going to the Olympics this year.”

With Spain and Pakistan expected to take the first two qualifying spots from Group B, both Malaysia and Argentina are evenly placed with four points each to fight for the third place.