The Hindu : Sport / Hockey : Pakistan routs India

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jun 30, 2004

Sport

Sport - Hockey

Pakistan routs India

AMSTERDAM, JUNE 29. Pakistan toyed with a hapless Indian defence to inflict a humiliating 6-1 defeat on its arch-rival in a crucial league match of the four-nation Rabobank hockey tournament here on Tuesday.

The huge loss virtually killed India's hopes of playing in the final of the tournament, which also features Germany and Holland.

The one-sided contest, which India needed to win to keep alive its hopes for a berth in the final, saw Pakistan scoring three goals in each half.

Shakeel Abbasi (7th), Sohail Abbas (28th, 43rd), Shabbir Hussain (33rd), Kashif Jawwad (55th) and Nadeem Khan (64th) scored for the winner, while India's lone goal came through Deepak Thakur three minutes before halftime.

This was India's second loss in as many matches in the tournament following its 2-0 defeat to Holland on Sunday.

Pakistan played a disciplined game, while India was sloppy. It often struggled for ball possession and hardly made any organised moves during the match. Its only goal by Thakur also appeared fortuitous.

India rarely posed a threat to the opposition with most of the forwards, including veteran Dhanraj Pillay failing to match the rivals in speed and ball control.

The Pakistanis, on the other hand, played purposefully with some incisive moves from both the flanks and created a lot of problems for the Indian defenders. The first half saw India concede three goals, mainly due to poor defence, particularly by Kanwalpreet Singh.

While Pakistan enjoyed an upper hand, executing some perfect passes and trapping the ball well, its counterpart suffered due to unimaginative game plan.

The Indians failed to make even a single coordinated move in the first half hour of play.

The eight-time Olympic winner started the high profile game with two of its most senior players — Dhanraj Pillay and Baljit Singh — but both failed to rise to the occasion and that did no good to the side's cause.

Poor Indian defence helped Pakistan strike thrice to take complete control of the match in the first half, even though India reduced the margin with an opportunistic goal in the 32nd minute through Thakur.

A midfield error by Vikram Pillay in the seventh minute was followed by a long run by Kashif Jawwad whose cross from the right was hit home by Shakeel Abbasi after Kanwalpreet made the mess of a clearance.

Pakistan had to wait till the 28th minute to extend its lead when Sohail Abbas slammed home from the only penalty corner that the side got in the first half.

Though Thakur's goal raised hopes of an Indian fightback, Pakistan dealt a major blow when Shabbir Hussain gave his team a 3-1 lead just before the half time hooter.

Following a lacklustre first half display, India replaced Devesh Chauhan in the goal with young Adrian D'Souza, but the move did not change its fortune as Pakistan scored three more goals.

Sohail scored his second goal from another penalty corner in the 43rd minute and eight minutes later Jawwad made it 5-1 before Nadeem's goal six minutes from the end sealed India's fate.

India now has a remote chance of qualifying for the final. Its last league match against Germany is on Thursday.

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