South Korea beat Malaysia 3-2 to win hockey bronze

INCHEON: South Korea won the bronze medal with a 3-2 win over Guangzhou silver-medallists Malaysia, with three of the five goals coming through penalty strokes.

Jang Jong-Hyun scored twice for the hosts to finish as the leading scorer of the competition with nine goals.

Jang opened the scoring with a penalty corner in the 19th minute and Kim Young-Jin increased the margin with a field goal at the end of the second quarter.

Malaysia, who lost to Pakistan via the shoot-out in the semi-final, reduced the margin early in the third quarter when Muhammad Razie converted a penalty stroke.

Jang made it 3-1 in the 44th minute with a penalty stroke, but Razie scored for Malaysia a minute later, also with a penalty stroke.

Korean coach Shin Seok-kyu said winning a bronze after drawing a blank in Guangzhou was like a gold medal for his young team.

"Our target before the tournament was to win the gold so the players were obviously very disappointed," said Shin. "But I told them this medal was as good as winning the gold.

"I am quite happy with today´s result. We have to look forward now and prepare for the future.” (AFP)