The FIH Nations Cup is currently being played in Poland and all teams, except Korea, from Pool A and B have played one match each.
In Pool A, Austria locked horns with South Africa and New Zealand met with Poland. While in Pool B, Pakistan took on Malaysia and France faced Canada.
After first-round matches, here is what the FIH Nations Cup points table looks like this:
Pool A
Pool B
The tournament began with Pakistan and Malaysia locking horns in an eight-goal thriller where the Green Shirts made an excellent comeback and secured a draw with a last-minute goal.
Malaysia had a three-goal lead in the first quarter but Pakistan, known for their resilience, didn’t give up and levelled the match.
Fitri Saari, Abu Kamal and Faizal Saari scored within the first 11 minutes of the match after taking advantage of some poor defending by Pakistan.
However, Abdul Rehman opened Pakistan’s account in the third quarter to keep his side’s hopes alive in the game.
But Fitri Saari scored another through a penalty stroke to once again extend Malaysia’s lead to three goals.
Despite the odds stacked against them, the Pakistan team didn’t lose hope and kept on attacking the Malaysian goal.
Sufyan Khan finally scored Pakistan’s second goal in the 43rd minute with Hannan Shahid adding another nine minutes later.
Meanwhile, Abu Bakr Mahmood scored the equaliser in the dying seconds of the match after Pakistan were awarded a penalty stroke.
Meanwhile, in another Pool B match, France comfortably defeated Canada with a dominating 4-0 scoreline.
In Pool A, Austria managed to overcome South Africa 4-3 in another thrilling encounter while New Zealand beat Poland 4-2.