The Hindu : Sport / Olympic Games : Last-minute blunder costs India dear

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Aug 20, 2004

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Sport - Olympic Games

Last-minute blunder costs India dear

By S. Thyagarajan

Australia 4 India 3

Germany 6 Egypt 1

Spain 5 Britain 1

New Zealand 3 Argentina 1

ATHENS, AUG. 19. India went down 4-3 to Australia in a pulsating duel, conceding a goal with just 20 seconds left for the hooter, in a Pool `B' match of the men's hockey competition here on Thursday.

India made a remarkable recovery in the second half to make up a two-goal deficit with quick goals. A 3-3 draw was very much on the cards before Arjun Halappa fumbled and allowed the ball to roll to an Aussie defender. A quick run by Troy Elder culminated in Michael Brennen slotting home the match-winner, much to the delight of the Australians and disappointment of the Indians.

Two defeats in three matches have dimmed India's chances of making the semifinals. All the best efforts put in by the players were undone by that last-minute error.

The tempo for an exhilarating contest was set by a superb goal scored by Deepak Thakur early in the contest. A delectable deflection off Harpal Singh's long pass stunned the Aussie goalkeeper Stephen Mowlan. And it took quite a while for the Australians to recover from that setback. The Indians were an inspired lot at the beginning.

To further emphasise this point, Gagan broke through neatly and almost beat the goalkeeper who palmed the ball away. Unfortunately, Prabhjot Singh, who was following Gagan closely, failed to get the rebound.

Adrian excels

The Aussies — not very well organised in midfield despite the presence of veteran Grant Livermore — made a few forays. The Indian midfield of Viren Resquinha and Vikram Pillay played a prominent role and so did the deep defence manned by Dilip Tirkey and the young William Xalco.

More importantly, it was the excellent work of Adrian D'Souza under the bar that kept the Aussies in check. He brought off quite a few splendid saves. Even the goal that was conceded was first saved by Adrian and cleared by Xalco but Troy Elder picked up the ball to sound the boards.

The Aussies forced three penalty corners in the first half but none proved productive as the Indian defence thwarted their efforts.

The teams were level 1-1 at half-time but within minutes after resumption, Jaime Dwyer dodged past Harpal to find the roof of the net. Michael Brennen then set a good pass for Mike McCann to widen the lead to 3-1. But India came back strongly with a superb deflection by Gagan off a cross by Harpal. A well co-ordinated move involving Dhanraj and Ignace Tirkey ended with Halappa scoring the equaliser.

An yellow card for Dhanraj by the South African umpire John Wright weakened the side. Dhanraj was probably penalised for playing the ball after the whistle, but the decision looked harsh indeed.

First win for Spain

Spain scored a few spectacular goals through Santi Frexia to gain its first win in three matches against Britain in Pool `A.' Spain has five points while Germany, which outplayed Egypt 6-1, is on top with seven.

The results:

Pool `A': Spain 5 (Pablo Amat, Santi Freixa 2, Pol Amat, Xavier Ribas) beat Great Britain 1 (Barry Middleton); Germany 6 (Christopher Zeller 2, Matthias Witthaus, Florian Kunz, Christoph Bechmann 2) beat Egypt 1 (Belal Enaba).

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