Asian Champions Trophy: Malaysia thump defending champions South Korea 6-2 to reach maiden final

Chennai: Malaysia blew away defending champions South Korea 6-2 with a superlative performance to enter their maiden final in the Asian Champions Trophy here on Friday. The goals were scored by Faizal Saari, Shello Silverious, Abu Kamal Azrai and Najmi Jazlan. For Korea, Woo Cheon Ji and skipper Jonghyun Jang found the back of the net. The first quarter began on a positive note for both sides, as it took just three minutes for Korea to surge ahead, with Ji scoring a field goal. However, it did not take long for Malaysia to level proceedings as in the very next minute, Azrai fired in a field goal in a solo effort to bring the deadlock back on. After an attack each, it was Malaysia that took the lead this time, as in the ninth, Jazlan scored for the side through a penalty corner rebound. While Malaysia’s Amirul Azahar was green carded in the subsequent minute, in the 14th, it was a PC for Korea, with Jang coming up with a fierce drag-flick to equalise. As the second quarter began, just after four minutes, Malaysia earned a PC, and it was Saari who got it converted. Also, in the 21st, Jazlan netted the fourth for the Malaysians through another PC. The Koreans defended well for the rest of the quarter despite the Malaysians coming with a convincing attack, as the latter led 4-2 at the half-time break. After the ends were switched in the third quarter, it was an intense battle between the two sides, whereas Malaysia’s Khaliq Hamirin was shown a yellow card in the 41st. While a penalty corner was awarded to Korea two minutes later, Korea earned a penalty stroke on referral from a subsequent short corner. However, it yielded no result as Jihun Yang’s attempt was denied by custodian Hafizuddin Othman. As the fourth quarter began to unfold, just a couple of minutes into it, Silverius converted Ashran Hamsani’s into the fifth goal for the Malaysians, while the very next minute, he tapped in the sixth after Seunghoon deflected Najib Hassan’s pass to the scorer. As Korea made a goalkeeping change, bringing in Jaehan Kim for Jaehyeon Kim, there was nothing to add to the scoreboard.