Asian Champions Trophy 2016: Malaysia outplay Japan to stay on top of league

Kuantan (Malaysia): Hosts Malaysia posted their third successive victory in the Asian Champions Trophy when they outplayed Japan 7-2 in Kuantan, Malaysia on Sunday to stay on top of the round-robin league standings with a maximum nine points. Star striker Faizal Saari scored two goals to lead the Malaysian charge, while five others made an entry in the scoresheet. Japan denied the dominant Malaysian strikers a goal until the 23rd minute when Niman Nik Rosemi opened the account with a field goal. [caption id=“attachment_3068114” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Malaysia continue their dominance at the top of the league. Image Courtesy: Malaysia Hockey Confederation via Twitter[/caption] Rashid Baharom, Nabil Noor, Firhan Ashari and Fitri Saari were the other scorers for Malaysia, who had defeated defending champions Pakistan 4-2 and China 5-1 in earlier matches. Japan, who have lost all their three matches, got two late consolation goals from Kenji Kitazato and Kentaro Fukuda. In the round-robin league standings, Malaysia is followed by India on seven points from three matches. Pakistan and China are on three points from three outings. Meanwhile, India produced a superb comeback to defeat Pakistan 3-2 in their third round robin match. With this win, India bagged the crucial three points to leap to the top of the points table with seven points from three matches. India will now take on China on Tuesday.