The Hindu : Sport / Hockey : India stays in contention

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Dec 11, 2004

Sport

Sport - Hockey

India stays in contention

LAHORE, DEC. 10. India survived a scare before holding New Zealand to a 1-1 draw in its last league match and stay in contention for a medal finish in the Champions Trophy hockey tournament here on Friday.

The draw took India's points tally to four from five matches and it was enough for the side to set a clash against arch-rival Pakistan in the bronze medal match. The final would be played between Holland and Spain, which downed Pakistan 3-0 earlier in the day.

The biggest story, however, was Germany's stunning 4-3 win over defending champion Holland. Germany — fielding 14 non-Olympians — rallied from behind three times to record its first win of the tournament. Germany will play for the last two spots against New Zealand on Sunday.

Darren Smith shot New Zealand ahead in the 55th minute when he deflected the ball from an indirect attempt off his team's seventh short corner. Arjun Halappa converted India's penalty stroke eight minutes from full time. Indian defence held on to 1-1 draw and thwarted at least four attempts of Kiwi forwards in the last three minutes.

Spain's Alex Fabregas converted a 47th minute penalty stroke and David Alegre pounced on a 53rd minute penalty corner rebound before young player of the year Sanitago Freixa sealed the victory against Pakistan with a reverse flick goal in the 68th.

Spain tops standings

Spain — with four victories from five matches — ended the round robin with 12 points to top the standings, edging out The Netherlands — also with 12 points — on goal difference. Spain's best finish in its previous 13 Champions Trophy came in 1997 at Adelaide, Australia, when it won a bronze medal.

Pakistan ended with nine points from five games. New Zealand succeeded in earning two points from five games. Germany was placed fifth despite securing four points as it conceded two more goals than the Indians in five matches.

Nick Meijer opened the scoring for The Netherlands with a 9th minute field goal, before Germany's Jan-Marco Montag converted an 18th minute short corner. Roderick Weusthof struck from the right side to give the Dutchmen a 2-1 lead seconds before halftime.

Niklas Meinert equalised for Germany in the 38th minute through a field goal before Holland edged ahead when Taeke Taekema converted a 48th minute short corner. Germany made some dangerous moves and Michael Purps pushed the ball into the goal in the 60th minute, before Christian Wein scored the match-winner three minutes from fulltime.

Aggressive start

India started off on an aggressive note when it made a flurry of attacks in the first quarter. It came close to scoring on a few occasions but was denied every time by goalkeeper Paul Woolford. A cross from the right found Sandeep Michael in front of the goal, but the New Zealand custodian was alert with a deflection.

"This is our first win over Pakistan in Pakistan and I am delighted to be in our first ever final of the Champions Trophy," Spanish coach Maurits Hendricks said. "Spain took the initiative in the second half and we raised the level of our game, but the real challenge lies ahead (in the final)."

The standings (read under team, games played, win, draw, lose, goals for, goals against, points): Spain 5, 4, 0, 1, 17, 7, 12; The Netherlands 5, 4, 0, 1, 21, 13, 12; Pakistan 5, 3, 0, 2, 9, 10, 9; India 5, 1, 1, 3, 9, 13, 4; Germany 5, 1, 1, 3, 9, 15, 4; New Zealand 5, 0, 2, 3, 6, 13, 2. — Agencies

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport