The Hindu : Sport : Prabhjot powers India to Asia Cup final

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Sunday, Sep 09, 2007
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Prabhjot powers India to Asia Cup final

S. Thyagarajan

Indian goalkeeper Baljit proves a tough nut to crack; Korea stops Malaysia’s run

— Photo: R. Ragu

ON TARGET: Prabhjot Singh scoring the second goal against Japan.

Chennai: With a performance that underscored the efficacy of a vibrant attack, India achieved a convincing 4-1 victory over Japan to take a place in the final of the Asia Cup hockey championship here on Saturday.

Before a huge gathering, India displayed a touch of artistry which brilliantly synthesised with harmony.

India will take on Korea which ended the Malaysian dream with a win by the odd goal in three.

Understandably, there was a vein of circumspection in the approach of the Indian team initially. The Japanese clearly enjoyed the edge at this point.

Great save

A superb save by goalkeeper Baljit Singh thwarted a powerful penalty corner hit by Yamabori. Japan was also a bit unlucky when a reverse shot by Katayama struck the post and spun back.

Progressively, the Indians mounted the pressure with Shivendra Singh taking the dominant role. He wove his way through the defence with perceptible elegance and caused havoc in the rival circle. And when Prabhjot Singh joined the attack, the frontline became vibrant.

Two classic goals in one minute laid the Japanese low. The first by Shivendra was a commendable effort. Sunil, who had missed a sitter earlier, wove in delectably and produced a stunning centre. Shivendra flicked the ball home amidst cheers even as Prabhjot too made an attempt to slot the ball in.

Terrific effort

The cheers hadn’t even died down when India scored another stunning goal through Prabhjot. Picking the ball after a miscued pass by Oto Sho, the Indian winger side-stepped two defenders with the grace and ease of a ballet dancer and flicked the ball over goalkeeper Shunsuke.

The only discordant note was the yellow card for Sardara Singh for a diving tackle. The Ghanian umpire Attipoe flashed the card without hesitation although the decision appeared a little harsh.

By half-time, the Indians were in full control notwithstanding the tight Japanese defence. Roshan Minz was unlucky to see the ball hit the post and bounce back. However, within minutes, he struck following a brilliant move that involved Prabhjot and Tushar Khandekar.

In the closing minutes, Yamabori managed to beat Baljit but Prabhjot provided a fitting finale to the contest. With a splendid solo run, Prabhjot scored the fourth goal to give India an emphatic victory.

Credit should also go to goalkeeper Baljit, whose penalty corner saves were simply outstanding. Japan had three penalty corners to India’s four. It was a pity that India could not convert any one of the penalty corners. With Raghunath not on the field when the penalty corners surfaced, the team lacked the variety to make the best use of them.

Persistence pays

Persistence paid for the Koreans against the resilient Malaysians. For no palpable reason, the Malaysians were quite subdued and content to allow the Koreans to probe in their area. There was a dull period before the Koreans seized the initiative.

If the Korean surge at that phase — thanks to the snap goal by Oh Dae Keum off a pass from Jong Jang Hyun — was contained, it was mainly through the spectacular saves by Kumar Subramaniam. Neither the power-packed flicks of Jong Jang Hyun nor the tricky hits by Kim Byung Hoon could disturb Kumar. He was quick, instinctive, and intrepid.

The Koreans were not cowed down by the Malaysian resistance even though the lead could not be enlarged.

The Malaysian attack lacked variety despite the verve shown by Tajuddin and Chua Boon Huat. However, shortly after the break came the equaliser when Azlan Misron gave the finishing touches with a diving deflection off a Tajuddin pass.

There was no perceptible change in the trend, which was electrified by a tearaway run by Yoon Sung Hoon, who covered a good deal of distance before drawing Kumar out and beating him from the top of the circle. Only eight minutes remained from the hooter at that point and the Koreans deployed the tactics to close the gates though the Malaysians made a valiant effort to break the lead.

A yellow card for Kang Seong Jung disturbed the Korean defence a bit, but the two penalty corners that Malaysia gained were thwarted well by goalkeeper Dong Sik.

The results: Semifinals: Korea 2 (Oh Dae Keun, Yoon Sung Hoon) bt Malaysia 1 (Azlan Misron); HT 1-0; Player of the match: Kumar Subramaniam.

India 4 (Prabhjot Singh 2, Roshan Minz, Shivendra Singh) bt Japan 1 (Yamabori); HT 2-0; Player of the match: Shivendra Singh.

11th place match: Singapore 4 (Sivalingam Johnson, Nee Yong Leang, Nazmi Bin Mohammad) bt Thailand 0; HT 2-0.

5-8 positions: China 6 (Liu Xian Tang 3, Huang Wei 2, Hu Huiren) bt Hong Kong 1 (Arif Ali); HT 4-1; Pakistan 10 (Sheriff Waqas, Yasir Islam, Tariq Aziz 2, Muhammad Imran 2, Abbas Haider 2, Muhammad Arshad 2) bt Bangladesh 0; HT 4-0.

Sunday’s matches:

(9-10): Singapore v Sri Lanka (8 a.m., Pitch 2); (7-8): Hong Kong v Bangladesh (7 a.m.); (5-6): Pakistan v China (9-30 a.m.); (3-4): Malaysia v Japan (4 p.m.); Final: India v Korea (6-30 p.m.).

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