 Pakistan’s Arbaz Ahmad scored one goal in the match.
KARACHI — Pakistan, and Malaysia played to a 1-1 draw on Wednesday in Game 2 of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup.
Malaysia took the lead in the 25th minute with Shello Silverius, but Pak equalized 10 minutes later with Arbaz Ahmad.
Earlier on Tuesday, Pakistan’s Umar Bhutta-led squad lost their tournament opener to South Africa by a score of 4-1 in Ipoh, Malaysia. Nine players made their tournament debuts in that game.
After nine players, including stars like Ammad Butt, Hammad Anjum, Moeen Shakeel, and Rizwan Ali, opted out of attending the training camp last month, the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) was left with little choice but to send a young squad to the competition.
Sources claim that players left Pak because they were offered better contracts in England’s league hockey and had doubts about the quality of coaching on the national side.
Our team will play hard on the field to earn some points and move up the standings. Around ten players will be making their tournament debuts for us, so it won’t be easy, but Bhutta told on Monday from Malaysia that the tournament would be good for the young players because of the worldwide exposure it would provide.
The senior members of the team, who have been with us for the better part of a year, will be sorely missed. We would have done better in both this competition and the Asian Games if we had stuck with the same team, he said.
Pakistan is currently in fifth place with one point after two games in the six-team tournament.
On November 4th, Pakistan will meet Japan in its third tournament encounter.
