World and defending champions Germany edged past Pakistan 4-3 in their opening match of the Azlan Shah hockey tournament in Ipoh on Sunday.

The Germans, after being up by two goals, were forced to stave off a strong fight back from the Asian giants before picking full points from the match.

Max Landshut opened the scoring for the Germans in the eighth minute, converting a penalty-corner, and Sebastian Biederleck increased the lead in the 22nd minute, finishing off on a fine pass by Eike Duckwitz.

But Pakistan, who had beaten New Zealand in their opening match on Saturday, pulled one back three minutes later through their penalty-corner ace Sohail Abbas, who flicked to the roof of the cage after making a mess with a couple of earlier attempts, after receiving a pass from Nadeem from an indirect variation..

A minute from half-time, Germany made it 3-1, Timo Wess scoring from a penalty-corner.

Pakistan pressed hard on resumption of play in the second period and pulled another goal back in the 42nd minute when Kashif Jawad scored off a pass from Dilawar Hussain.

But the Germans scored again in the 57th minute through Benjamin Koep.

Five minutes from the end, Rehan Butt made the score 3-4 for Pakistan's but that's as far as the 2000 champions could get. The Germans put more men on the ball and held possession for a deserving 4-3 victory.