China and New Zealand tie 1-1 in the azlan shah hockey tournament 2024 final.
Pakistan hasn’t lost yet in the 30th Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Cup 2024. In their last group match on Friday at the Azlan Shah Stadium in Ipoh, Malaysia, they tied the third-seeded New Zealand 1-1 to stay perfect.
After an exciting 4-1 win over Pakistan in the spot shootout, Japan was named the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup 2024 champion.
Pakistan and Japan, who both had never lost in the event, threw everything they had at each other in the final. By the end of extra time, their scores were still tied at 2-2.
In the 12th minute, Seren Tanaka made a field goal to give Japan a good start to the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup 2024 final.
Their early lead lasted until the end of the first quarter and the whole second, even though Pakistan made several tries to tie the game.
After going on the attack in the third quarter, Pakistan finally got their prize when Ajaz Ahmed scored in the 34th minute.
The Green Shirts then took the lead in the exciting final when Abdul Rahman scored in the 37th minute.
Azlan Shah Hockey Tournament 2024 Final
Japan made a great comeback after falling behind by one goal. Just two minutes into the last quarter, Kazumasa Matsumoto scored the equaliser.
In the first half, both teams played hard but didn’t score. New Zealand’s Luke Holmes scored a field goal in the 35th minute of the third quarter to break the tie.
After eight minutes, Abu Bakr Mahmood tied the game with a penalty corner. With four goals, he is now tied for the most goals scored by a Pakistani player with Sufyan Muhammad Khan.
With a score of 1-1, Pakistan would go into the final against Japan having never lost in the round-robin stage.
The team that has won the Sultan azlan shah hockey tournament 2024 final Cup three times got three wins, against South Korea, Malaysia, and Canada, and two draws, against Japan and New Zealand.
Even though Pakistan was behind at one point, they made a huge comeback and won the game 5–4.
In the third quarter, Abu Bakr Mahmood scored two quick goals to tie the game again. Four more goals were scored by Arshad Liaqat, Rana Waheed Ashraf, Ghazanfar Ali, and Zubair Ali.
Canada’s Sean Davis got two goals, and India’s Harbir Sindhu and Avjot Buttar each scored one.