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Goals rain in Asia Cup as India submerges Sri Lanka

— Photo: M. Vedhan

THRILLED: Japan’s Ono Tomomori (centre) is delighted after scoring a goal against Pakistan in the Asia Cup hockey tournament on Saturday.

Chennai: Mediocrity continued to hit the eye more than aesthetics and craft even as the BSNL-Asia Cup hockey remained submerged in a deluge of goals — 60 to be exact — on Saturday.

A filament of intensity and a touch of history were injected into the competition, perhaps expectedly, when Japan overpowered the three-time trophy winner, Pakistan, with a comprehensive 3-1 win in Pool A.

This was Japan’s first ever victory over the sub-continental powerhouse whose record is enviable in every layer of the sport.

Later in the evening there were scenes of jubilation when India outclassed Sri Lanka by a whopping 20-0 in Pool B, to equal the highest margin recorded in the competition. Korea and Malaysia defeated Thailand by the same margin at Hiroshima in 1993.

India won 9-1 when it met Sri Lanka last at the SAF Games, 2006. Sri Lanka shares the 50the ranking in the world with Greece and Uruguay.

The renowned pugnacity of Japan mirrored everything that the players did to subjugate their famous rivals. The virtues were speed, system and a sustained spell of inspiration to build on. A near-flawless defence supported by the alacrity and athleticism of goalkeeper, Nagaoka Shansuke, who was declared the Player of the Match, contributed to a memorable result.

Inexplicably phlegmatic, the Pakistanis were compelled to play second fiddle even as Japan took control of the exchanges. True, the approach was individualistic, but every effort by Tomomori, Kawakami Kei and Yamabori was sharp to stretch the defence. Even the usually agile Salman Akbar under the bar wilted under sustained pressure.

A stinging drive from Tomomori off a cross from Katsuyoshi was sharp enough to bewilder Salman. Crossing over, Japan enlarged the leeway with a thundering penalty corner by Yamabori and midway through widened the gap when Tomomori provided the finishing touches to a combined move.

In between, Pakistan had reduced the margin through Shakeel Abbasi off a cross from Akhtar Ali. Quite understandably, the mood of the coaches showed the contrast between elation and dejection. While Kyoichi viewed the verdict as path-breaking, which it was in any way that, Islahuddin termed the result as unexpected.

Islah’s estimate was that the forward missed far too many chances. To some extent this might be acceptable, but the fact that Pakistan’s defence performed abysmally went unstated. The frontline was ponderous, minus the few runs by Abbasi.

The execution of penalty corners was pathetic, save for one bit of bad luck when a Warsis flick hit the post and spun back.

The Indian frontline dazzled under the floodlights in their sleeveless jerseys like the Aussies. It was a splendid target practice against a hapless defence. Some of the goals scored by Prabhjot Singh and Tushar Khandekar projected the essence of opportunism and power, but what stood etched in memory as one left the venue were the two reverse shot goals by Ignace Tirkey.

Malaysia, Korea and China were among the goals while registering huge margins.

The results:

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