Asia's number-one side Korea scored a major upset at field hockey's Champions Trophy here Monday, dumping hot favourites the Netherlands 6-2 in a shock defeat for the European champions. Meanwhile, Pakistan's hopes for a spot in the final were severely dented when they were held 2-2 by a fighting Malaysia, earning the hosts their first point of the tournament.
World champions Germany remained the only unbeaten team at the Kuala Lumpur tournament with a stylish 4-1 rout over Spain. And world number one and reigning Olympic champions Australia kept themselves in the chase for a place in the finals when they edged out arch-rivals Britain 1-0.
The headline match saw Korea put in a commanding performance, against the Dutch who though unbeaten in their last three matches finally wilted in the late afternoon heat, allowing the Koreans to score four times in the last nine minutes.
The Netherlands started the match well enough when they went ahead through Wouter Hermkens in the 23rd minute but failed to take several clear chances after that. Korea banged in the equaliser from a penalty from Jang Jong-hyun in the 34th and at halftime it was 1-1.
It was action all the way after the break. The Dutch took the lead again through Maathijs Brouwer in the 36th, but Korea again came back to even the score through Kim Sam-seok in the 56th.
After that, it was all Korea as they overran their opponents, with a hat trick from Jang and more goals from Lee Nam-yong and Kim Joung-go. In their clash with Malaysia, Pakistan went ahead with goals from Akhtar Ali in the 19th minute and Ghazanfar Ali in the 35th, but Malaysia powered past the former world champions in the last 20 minutes of the match and replied through veterans Chua Boon Huat and M. Jiwa Mohan.
Pakistan team manager Zakauddin Khawja said he was not disappointed with his team's performance despite the fact they seem to have lost their chance to make the finals. "It looks difficult (the chances for final) but we cannot give up. We must try to win our remaining matches," he said, blaming inexperience for the loss.
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