The Hindu : Sport : India bounces back to trounce Malaysia

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 20, 2006

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India bounces back to trounce Malaysia

S. Thyagarajan

TUSSLE FOR POSSESSION: India's Tejbir Singh (right) battles for the ball with Kuhan Shanmuganathan of Malaysia. The Indians' much-improved display gave them a facile win. — PHOTO: AP

KUALA LUMPUR: There was a touch of elegance in the way India shaped up in the Azlan Shah hockey tournament on Monday after the disastrous start against Australia in the opening match. However, reading too much into the 5-2 verdict against Malaysia will be presumptuous.

What needs to be acknowledged was the initiative to rest the seniors and blood youngsters such as Hari Parsad and Shivendra Singh. The move paid off handsomely as the frontline displayed flair and fluency, unnoticed in the opening encounter.

The star of the show was Tejbir Singh. In almost every move he played a part and helped the youngsters get into a rhythm. While Vikram Pillay shouldered the burden in the midfield, Vinay and Prabhodh Tirkey were prominent in their tackles. The weak link was the deep defence. That probably accounted for the two goals Malaysia struck after trailing 3-0 shortly after half-time.

Bright start

India forged ahead when Hari Parsad tapped in after a superb raid. Gagan then flicked in a rebound off a penalty corner shot by Kanwalpreet and Sandeep Singh produced a carpet drive for the third.

A runaway win was on the cards but the home team never gave up. Azlan Misron and Jiwa Mohan spurred Malaysia's fightback, until a cross from Sandeep Singh was slotted home by Tushar Khandekar.

Later, a neat move involving Sandeep and Gagan ended in an obstruction of Shivendra by goalkeeper Kumar Subramaniam. Gagan Ajit Singh converted the resultant penalty stroke.

Seldom does one get to read about Australia being overwhelmed by an Asian team. The Koreans earned the distinction of embarrassing the Olympic and defending champion with a 3-0 win.

Australia's approach to slow down and frustrate the Koreans boomeranged on them. In the space of four minutes, the Koreans blasted the wobbling Aussie defence with two impeccable penalty corner conversions by Jang Jong Hyun and a field goal by Kang Seong Jung.

Goalkeeper shines

Meanwhile, Pakistan edged out the Netherlands 3-2 in a thrilling Pool B match. While the applause would go to the admirable show by Rehan Bhat, Shakeel Abbasi and Shabbir Hussein, the standout performer was goalkeeper Salman Akbar, who saved Pakistan's day.

All the wristy penalty corner shots of Taeke Taekema or the variegated designs formulated by veterans Jerome Delmee and Teun di Nooijer failed to disturb the composure of Salman.

A fluent run by Shabbir Hussain saw a sweep shot of Rehan Butt bewildering the Dutch keeper Klaas Veering in the early minutes. When Floris Evers levelled, it looked like the stage was set for a fierce contest. But a penalty corner by Imran Warsi and a scintillating effort by Shakeel Abbasi pushed the Dutch into the distress zone. The goal by Roderick Weusthof which synchronised with the hooter proved too little too late.

The results:

Pool A: South Korea 3 (Jang Jong Hyun 2, Kang Seong Jung) bt Australia 0.

India 5 (Hari Parsad, Gagan Ajit Singh 2, Sandeep Singh, Tushar Khandekar) bt Malaysia 2 (Azlan Misron, Jiwa Mohan).

Pool B: Pakistan 3 (Rehan Butt, Imran Warsi, Shakeel Abbasi) bt The Netherlands 2 (Floris Evers, Roderick Weusthof).

Tuesday's matches: The Netherlands vs. Argentina (12:30 p.m.), Pakistan vs. New Zealand (2:30 p.m.)

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