The Hindu : Sport : India steamrollers Korea to retain Asia Cup

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Sep 10, 2007
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India steamrollers Korea to retain Asia Cup

S. Thyagarajan

Splendid exhibition of expertise and enterprise; Prabhjot, Baljit score a brace each

— Photo: R. Ragu

ENDING A TITLE DROUGHT: India came up with a consistent performance to lift the Asia Cup.

Chennai: Amidst scenes of unprecedented jubilation and euphoria, India retained the Asia Cup with a splendid exhibition of hockey expertise and enterprise to overwhelm Korea with an incredible score of seven goals to two in front of a packed Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium on Sunday. India led 3-1 at halftime.

It was a dramatic victory in every sense of the word, embellished by superlative wing play by Prabhjot Singh. The outcome was in keeping with the form that the team had shown in the competition. It finished with seven successive wins and a tally of 57 goals against five.

Setting the tone

Shivendra Singh set the tone and tenor with an early goal that he struck after Prabhodh Tirkey and Prabhjot Singh had worked in tandem to conceive a lovely move.

From then on the Indians gained ascendancy even though Korea scored through a penalty stroke conversion by Jang Jong Hyun after goalkeeper Baljit Singh obstructed Kim Byung.

The fluency and finesse in the frontline sallies, supported by the impeccable work from the defence and mid-field, broke the usually organised Korean defence. Prabhjot Singh symbolised the élan of the Indian attack, which showed verve every time it surged in. He combined brilliantly with Shivendra Singh and Rajpal Singh.

In the mid-field Sardara Singh and Bimal Lakra were confidence personified as were deep defenders Dilip Tirkey and Williiam Xalco.

Not to forget was goalkeeper Baljit Singh, whose saves late in the second half were a marvel to behold. Small wonder that he picked up the Player of the Match prize.

Prabhjot was the cynosure. His sinuous runs sent ripples of excitement among the crowd whenever he had the ball with him. He had a hand in almost every goal.

When India struck the second, thanks to Sunil’s deflection off a free hit by Dilip Tirkey, it was evident that the Korean defence was falling apart.

Before half-time India added one more when Prabhjot found the target following a move by Tushar and Sardara.

When everything was rolling exceedingly well, came a discordant note. A scrap involving Prabhjot and Kim Chul triggered a lot of commotion.

The Indian was pushed around by the Koreans; there was a near fracas until the officials intervened to restore order. Prabhjot received the yellow for his alleged misdemeanour.

Shortly after the break Sardara and Rajpal worked in tandem, with the latter netting, and then a similar move involving Prabhjot and Ignace ended with Ignace beating the substitute goalkeeper Lee Myung Ho.

Then came Rajpal’s second followed by Prabhjot’s superlative effort. Korea had a consolation goal from Oh Dae Keun in the dying minutes when Indian victory was put beyond doubt.

Inexplicably, the Koreans looked rattled by the patterns put across.

At one point they were so frustrated that they threatened a walk-out holding play for over seven minutes disputing a decision of the Ghanian umpire.

The trademark trapping and clearances deserted Korea. Nothing exemplifies this than the margin.

Malaysia finishes third

Seasoned winger and a sharp shooter, Chua Boon Huat played a stellar role in steering Malaysia to a bronze and podium finish in the championship. Malaysia outplayed and outclassed Japan 5-2 after leading 4-1 in the first half.

Humiliation for Pakistan was more than complete when China registered a 3-1 victory in the match to decide the five and six places. This is the lowest ever rating by Pakistan in the championship since 1982.

Mr. M. Karunanidhi, Chief Minister, Tamil Nadu, presided and gave away the prizes.

The results: Final: India 7 (Shivendra Singh, Sunil, Prabhjot Singh 2, Rajpal Singh 2, Ignace Tirkey) beat Korea 2 (Jang Jong Hyun, Oh Dae Keun); HT 3-1. Player of the Match: Baljit Singh.

3-4 place: Malaysia 5 (Kalvinder Singh, Selvaraju, Chua Boon Huat 2, Ismail Abu) beat Japan 3 (Yamabori, Nagasawa Katsuyoshi, Kawakami Kei); HT 4-1. Player of the match: Chua Huan Boot.

5-6: China 3 (De Yunze 3) beat Pakistan 2 (Arshad Muhammad 2); HT 1-1. Player of the match: De Yunze.

7-8: Bangladesh 3 (Rasel Mehmud 2, Jahid Bin Talib) beat Hong Kong 1 (Arif Ali) HT: 1-1. Player of the match: Rasel Mehmud.

9-10: Sri Lanka 6 (Sumandararathne, Hettiarachichi, Abeyratne, Nimanka Srimal, Jayasundara, Anju Hewage) beat Singapore 0; HT. 2-0; Player of the Match: K.S.S. Perera.

Final positions: 1. India 2. Korea, 3. Malaysia, 4. Japan, 5. China, 6. Pakistan, 7. Bangladesh, 8. Hong Kong, 9. Sri Lanka, 10. Singapore, 11. Thailand.

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