Youngster Hockey Club of Pakistan resisted a late bout of aggression from Telekom Malaysia to pull off a 5-3 victory in their second match in the 16th Lal Bahadur Shastri hockey tournament at the Shivaji stadium in Delhi on Monday.
In other matches, India Dark Blues survived a scare before beating India Under-18 4-2, while India Light Blues defeated India Juniors 3-2.
It was the fight between the two foreign sides that drew the most applause.
After their shock defeat to India Light Blues on Sunday, the Pakistanis looked determined to win today's match and launched an all-out attack.
Akhtar Ali opened the scoring for them through a field goal in the 15th minute. Eleven minutes later he and Muhammad Waqas Shariff set up a nice move, following which their ever-alert skipper and Olympian, Mudassar Ali Khan, netted the second goal.
Mohammad Zubair extended Pakistan's lead to 3-0 from another field goal in the 33rd minute.
The Malaysians opened their account a minute later through Mohd. Sallehin Mohd Ghani, who scored off a penalty-corner.
Akhtar Ali completed a brace after the lemon break as Youngster Club looked all set to win easily.
However, two quick goals from Telekom Malaysia brought some thrill to the proceedings.
Mohd Fauzi Abd Rahim scored after the Pakistan goalkeeper blocked a Malaysian attack.
Three minutes later, the Malaysian side earned a penalty stroke after goalie Roslan Zamalludin brought down a Malaysian player. Rahim converted the stroke to keep the Malaysian side's hopes alive.
However, Youngster's skipper Mudassar sealed victory with a wittily crafted goal off a penalty-corner (60th minute). He played a crucial role in the victory by initiating a number of attacks apart from scoring twice. He deservedly bagged the man-of-the-match award.
India Dark Blues, comprising senior India players, came from behind to save face against India under-18. At half-time, they trailed 1-2 after wasting a penalty-stroke in the 18th minute.
After the breather, Ignace Tirkey struck twice and Prabhjot Singh scored once to fashion victory for Dark Blues.
Prabhdeep Singh netted the other goals for them.
India under-18's Bruno Hardian, who sounded the board twice to push Dark Blues on the backfoot, was chosen the man-of-the-match.
India Light Blues pipped India Juniors 3-2 in another match.
Light Blues dominated the first half and led 3-1 at the half-time.
Vikram Kanth, who netted two goals for the ILBs, was named the man-of-the-match. Tushar Khandekar struck once.
For the juniors, Ravi Kumar and Prem Kumar were the scorers.
Telekom Malaysia play India Juniors while India Dark Blues will meet Youngsters' Hockey Club on Tuesday.
