Spain provided the first shock of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament when they defeated Australia at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil.

They owe the 3-1 win to the deadly finishing of Santiago Freixa Escude, who scored two goals in the match to take his personal tournament tally to four.

Spain opened the scoring in the 13th minute through Victor Sojo Gimenaz but Australia were on level terms in the 26th minute when Travis Brooks picked up a rebound from a penalty corner to slot it home.

The Aussies forced a total of six penalty corners in the first half but were unable to capitalise further.

Seven minutes into the second half Santiago struck to put the Spaniards 2-1 ahead.

His second and Spain's third goal was a gem in the 58th minute as he went on a solo run from the halfway line before unleashing an unstoppable reverse hit which left Australian keeper Mark Hickman no chance.

In an earlier match at the same venue, defending champions Pakistan squeezed out a narrow 3-2 win over arch rivals India.

But while Pakistan would welcome the three points, the manner in which they struggled to overcome what was a second string Indian side comprising of ten junior players was causing concern to team officials.

Pakistan coach Roelant Oltmans said: "Matches between these two countries always bring the best out of the players and it makes no difference if the players are from the junior ranks.

"We tried out some different tactics in the match and to me we are still experimenting, hence our performance will see some ups and downs."

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