The Final day of the Azlan Shah Cup will be remembered as the day of penalties and revenges too. The teams who lost at group stage avenged their defeat on the final day. All the three games were won by penalties and in the process Kiwis won their second title, India won their 6th Bronze and Canada shocked the hosts, winning their first game of the tournament in 6 matches.
Sultan Azlan Shah Cup 2015: Schedule and Results, Points Table, Highest Goal Scorers
Indian Record in Azlan Shah
Azlan Shah Tournament: List of Winners
Awards
Best Player: Mark Knowles
Man of the Match of Final: Andy Hayward (New Zealand)
Best Goalkeeper: Devon Manchester (New Zealand)
Top Scorer: Jamie Dwyer (8 goals) (Australia)
India Wins 6th Bronze
Proving that their win over Aussies in the last match of group stage was no fluke, the Indian team avenged their group match defeat against the South Koreans. The match was tied at 2-2 as Thimmaiah (10th) and Satbir Singh (22nd) scored for India while Hyo-sik (20th) and Hyun Woo (29th) equalised for Korea. As the second half saw no goals, the teams went for penalties.
Jong-hyun scored for Korea but Kihoon and Juhun failed to get past Indian goalkeeper Sreejesh. Akashdeep, Sardar, Rupinderpal and Lakra converted the first four as Indians did not need the 5th hit winning 4-1 in penalties to earn their 6th Bronze of the Azlan Shah Cup.
Kiwis Shock Aussies
New Zealand took cue from Indian win against Aussies and kept attacking. They took the lead twice first in 5th minute and then in 58th minute. Hayward scored both the goals for them. But, Aussies fought to their best level and first Dwyer in 50th minute and then Knowles in 60th minute got the equalisers.
In the Penalties, Beale, Ockenden and Zalewski failed while Whetton struck for Aussies whereas for Kiwis Inglis, Hilton and Archibald struck Gold as Child could not convert. They won 3-1 in penalties earning their 2nd Azlan Shah title.
Canada Shocks Malaysia
Probably the most shocking result of the day was the first game where for Classification 5-6 position the hosts lost to Canada, who were beaten comfortably by all the 5 teams at Group Stage. First both were tied at 4-44 with Ho-Garcia of Canada scoring a hattrick and Sarmento scoring their 4th goal and the final equaliser. For Malaysia, Rahim equalised the quickest goal record of India scoring in the 2nd minute, Saari added 2 goals while Ashaari struck the 4th goal.
Going to the penalties, Saari scored but Noor and Ashaari failed, while Haziq fouled for Malaysia. For Canada, Bisselt missed but Panesar, Gill and Teixeira ensured 3-1 win to finish 5th.
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