Hockey World League: Belgium Rally to Hold Great Britain, Malaysia win
Belgium scored a fourth-quarter equalizer to hold Great Britain to a 2-2 draw. Malaysia began their Pool B campaign by overcoming a gritty Chinese outfit 3-2 in an all-Asian contest.
Belgium scored a fourth-quarter equalizer to hold Great Britain to a 2-2 draw in men's hockey World League Semi-finals, here on Sunday.
World No. 4 Belgium, who are one spot ahead of Great Britain, failed to make an impression on the sound British defence in the Group B encounter.
The hosts were relieved to see Sebastian Dockier's conversion from a penalty corner rebound in the 49th minute to equalize 2-2.
The Belgians took the initial lead in the 19th minute when Simon Gougnard's diagonal pass into the circle was deflected in by captain John-John Dohmen.
Britain drew parity on a deft flick into the goal by Simon Griffiths in scoring zone action following their first penalty corner in the 23rd minute.
They went a goal ahead on an outstanding field goal by Alastair Brogdon, who capped his run down the left flank with a first shot into the net in the 32nd minute.
Malaysia began their Pool B campaign by overcoming a gritty Chinese outfit 3-2 in an all-Asian contest. World No 12 Malaysia took charge of the contest with two goals in the second quarter as Faizal Saari sent a stinging shot into the net from a narrow angle in the 18th minute and Muhammad Shamsul duly converted a penalty stroke on the stroke of half-time.
Both teams observed a minute of silence before the start of the match and wore black armbands as a mark of respect to Malaysian goalkeeper Kumar Subramaniam, who left Antwerp to return home following the tragic death of his three-year-old son. China came back into the contest through a 38th-minute field goal from Guo Xiaoping. The Chinese could have equalized soon after but their penalty stroke was overturned after a Malaysian appeal.
Malaysia stretched the lead in the 53rd minute on a penalty corner goal by captain Razie Rahim, but China were back in the contest by pulling one back in the last minute through a Zhang Zhixuan's fine deflection. Chinese effort to force an equalizer in the closing stages were thwarted by the Malaysian defence.