India, South Korea share Azlan Shah title
India, South Korea share Azlan Shah title
Only seven minutes of play was possible when rains came down heavily at the Azlan Shah Stadium.

Ipoh, Malaysia: India retained the Azlan Shah Cup hockey title after they were declared joint winners with South Korea as heavy rains washed out the finals here on Sunday.

Only seven minutes of play was possible when rains came down heavily at the Azlan Shah Stadium. India won the tournament for the fifth time and second in a row. They had earlier won the championship in 1985, 1991, 1995 and 2009.

This is the first time in the history of the tournament that the title was shared by two teams.

Meanwhile, World champions Australia scored a hard-fought 5-3 victory over Malaysia to win the bronze.

Mathew Swann (34th), Russel Ford (43rd), Kieran Govers (50th), Christopher Ciriello (54th) and captain Grant Schubert (65th) scored for Australia while Haffihafiz Hanafi (14th), Amin Mohd Rahim (48th) and Tajudin (70th) found the target for the hosts.

In another classification match, Pakistan finished fifth after pipping China 6-5 in the sudden death tie-breaker after being locked 1-1 till extra time.

Malaysia took the lead in 14th minute when striker Haffihafiz Hanafi pushed past Australian goalkeeper George Bazeley after being put through by Faisal Saari.

The Aussies found the equaliser when birthday boy Mathew Swann tapped in via a reverse flick from a goalmouth melee in the 34th minute to go into the breather 1-1.

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