The Hindu : Gagan shows his class as India humbles Pakistan

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Oct 28, 2003

Sport

Sport - Hockey

Gagan shows his class as India humbles Pakistan

By V. V. Subrahmanyam

Indian captain Gagan Ajit Singh about to score the fourth goal as Pakistan's Ali Raza and Ghazanfar Aki (right) watch helplessly in the Afro-Asian Games hockey competition in Hyderabad on Monday. — Photo: Vino John

HYDERABAD OCT. 27. India's star forward Gagan Ajit Singh seemed to have reserved his best for the big match against Pakistan. For someone who was almost unobtrusive in the two previous matches, Gagan showed his class with two brilliant efforts to guide India to a 4-2 win over Pakistan and a top place finish in the pool in the Afro-Asian Games men's hockey competition at the Gachibowli Hockey Complex here on Monday.

It was Pakistan which looked more organised in the early stages of the first half as Rehan Butt and Shakeel Abbasi worked in tandem to test the Indian defence quite a few times. Pakistan missed two clear chances during this phase. In the seventh minute, Salim Khalid fumbled after receiving a perfect centre from the right by Abbasi.

Soon Abbasi himself wasted another perfect cross from the right by Rehan. Even as Pakistan struggled to recover from the lapses, it was India which shot into the lead through the opportunism shown by Sandeep Michael. Sandeep capitalised on some shoddy work by Pakistan goalkeeper Salman Akbar, who failed to cleanly stop a carpet drive from the right and then a reverse flick from Ignace Tirkey. But Sandeep was quick to spot a chance and cleverly deflected the ball into the goal in the 22nd minute.

Sandeep's goal saw frustration creep into the Pakistan camp, resulting in a yellow card to Tariq Aziz within the next two minutes. That Pakistan earned its first penalty corner only in the 25th minute was a reflection of the stout Indian defence manned by captain Dilip Tirkey and Kanwalpreet Singh.

With five minutes to go for the breather, Pakistan scored the equaliser through a fine effort by Salim Khalid, who first gave an impression of losing control of a centre from the right. He recovered in time to slam home to the right of the goalmouth. Spurred by that effort, Pakistan went on the offensive and quickly shot into the lead, thanks to Abbasi's angular shot from the top of the `D' in front of a crowded defence with two minutes to go for half-time.

A change in the attitude of the Indian camp was visible as Tirkey's team launched an all-out attack and earned two penalty corners in quick succession. The omnipresent Prabhjot Singh levelled the scores in the 40th minute off a move which started with a corner hit by Tirkey and ended with the former slipping through the Pakistan defence and deflecting the ball past a diving goalkeeper.

Then came the goal of the match. Kanwalpreet's neat interception near the top of the `D' in his own territory was followed by a speedy run down the right flank to set up a lovely through pass to the waiting Gagan. The forward displayed his skill with the reverse flick to sound the boards from an acute angle. India went up 3-2 in the 42nd minute as the crowd went into raptures.

Gagan Ajit then suffered a nasty hit by Qasim Mohammad as panic crept into the Pakistan camp. But the Indians kept their cool and focus on the game. In this period, Ignace and Bimal Lakra were prominent with their speed and skills in the midfield and also distributed precise passes.

India had its share of luck when a penalty stroke earned by Pakistan, after its third penalty corner, was wasted by Ghazanfar Ali who hit the horizontal bar in the 63rd minute.

The tension was palpable as India was clinging on to a slender lead. However, a superb through pass from Prabhjot to Gagan Ajit saw the latter find the target with yet another superb effort as three minutes remained for the hooter. This sealed Pakistan's fate.

The semifinal line-up is: India vs Malaysia; Korea vs Pakistan.

Earlier, Egypt recorded d a 4-2 win over Nigeria in a match which witnessed more cards — eight with the Nigerians' share being six. Egypt led by a 3-2 margin at the break thanks to field goals from Belalibrahim Mohamed Enaba and Sameh Metwally Mohamed and a penalty corner conversion by Yasser Mohammed in the 12th, 21st and 23rd minutes. For Nigeria, Auwolu Lamido and Sunda Ogodogu David were the scorers.

It was an absorbing contest in the second session with the champion outfit from Africa managing just one goal through Walid Mostofa Abdelh off a penalty corner in the 67th minute. To the credit of the Nigerians, they kept the rivals at bay but were done in by poor finishing.

In another match, South Africa, the All Africa Games finalist, blanked Ghana 5-0 as Ian Haley (sixth), Gareth Carr (13th), Denzil Dolley (15th), Gareth Carr (21st) and Craig Fulton (30th) scored.

However, Korea, which defeated Malaysia by a 2-1 margin, only allowed the latter to qualify for the knock-out phase by virtue of a better goal average compared to the South Africans.

The results:

Pool A: South Africa bt Ghana 5-0; Korea bt Malaysia 2-1.

Pool B: Egypt bt Nigeria 4-2; India beat Pakistan 4-2.

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