Going into the game, India were wary of the talents of Malaysian team trained by German Paul Lissek, but never imagined they would lose.

After a series of attacks by Indians which were muffed up, Malaysia earned their eighth penalty corner in extra time. Keevan Raj pushed the ball to Logan Raj whose shot was deflected into the goal by Mirarvan, leaving Indian goalkeeper AB Subbaiah looking totally at sea.

The Malaysians, for whom a bronze in these Games would have been a bonus, will meet tomorrow Australia, who edged out England 3-2 in the other semifinal match.

Michael Brennan breezed past English defenders to score an extra-time golden goal and push Australia into thefinal. Locked 2-2 at the final whistle after a match that was fast-paced but full of missed opportunities for both sides, Brennan snatched the ball away during an English charge and zig-zagged his way past two dazed defenders for the winning goal in the first semifinal. The goal came in the second minute of extra time.

After a drab and barren first half, England came back from the breather more energetic and began assaulting Australia immediately. They struck in the 56th minute when Jon Wyatt deflected the ball from Russell Garcia in a penalty corner.

But Australia retaliated within two minutes with Matthew Smith equalising with a field goal. With minutes to go for the final whistle, the aggressive English side was back in front with Garcia scooping a penalty corner shot past the flailing arms of Australian goalkeeper Damon Diletti.Australia equalised with Jeremy Hiskins exploiting a defensive lapse to tap the ball into the English goal in the 72nd minute.

WOMEN LOSE TOO: The Indian women's teamremained in contention for only a bronze as a strong English side shut them out 2-0 to set up a title clash with powerful Australia.

India will meet New Zealand tomorrow for the third spot. Today the Indian girls missed their captain Sita Gussain a lot. Gussain got a red card on Thursday during the game against Scotland and was ruled out for this match.Nevertheless the team tried very hard but a strong defence thrown up by the English side made their moves ineffective.

Indians, which got as many as seven penalty corners, just could not make use of them because of weak hitting.England, who had beaten India narrowly while finishing ninth in the world Cup was a much stronger side than the one that played at Utrect in Holland. With the return to the side of Mandy Nicholson, the English played to a plan.But good defending by the Indians and some fine goalkeeping by T Chanu saw the England side unable to score more goals.

England took an early lead with Jane Smith hammering in the ball when the side got theirfirst penalty corner in the fourth minute. But until the 43rd minute, when England's Tina Cullen shot through the legs of the Indian goalkeeper after a good pass from Nicholson, the Indians held them at bay.In fact, the Indians thought they had equalised in the first half when Ferdina Ekka neatly deflected a shot by Suraj Waikhom but umpire Peri Buckley of Australia disallowed it.

The Australian women, favourites to win the Commonwealth games' first ever hockey gold, strode into the final defeating New Zealand 7-3.