The Hindu : Sport : India beats Malaysia, makes final

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Sunday, May 18, 2008
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India beats Malaysia, makes final

Shivendra Singh and Sandeep Singh score in the first-half

— PHOTO: AFP

HIT AND MISS: Malaysia’s Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin Tengku Abdul Jalil (left) tries to shoot past Indian keeper Adrian D’Souza during their match at the Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament on Saturday.

Ipoh (Malaysia): India pulled off a narrow 2-1 win in its last round robin match against host Malaysia to book a berth in the final of the Azlan Shah hockey tournament here on Saturday.

First-half goals by Shivendra Singh (9th) and Sandeep Singh (10th) put India in the driver’s seat in the crucial match and it maintained the lead till the last minute before Mohammad Amin Rahim shot home a consolation goal for Malaysia.

With this win, India gathered 12 points from its six matches and set up a title clash against Argentina, which has finished with 14 points, on Saturday.

India, which lost its first two matches, continued with its impressive turnaround in the tournament to register its fourth consecutive victory and make the Azlan Shah final after a gap of 12 years.

India tried to keep the Malaysians under control in Saturday’s game and in the initial minutes Sunil had a golden chance to score the first goal when he took the ball with a solo run and had a shy at the Malaysian post without succeeding in beating home goalkeeper Subramanian.

Then it was the run of Indian keeper Adrian D’Souza, who continued with his good showing against Pakistan and single-handedly blocked three back-to-back attempts by the Malaysian strikers.

India shot into lead in the 9th minute when a Sandeep Singh slapshot from outside the Malaysian circle was deflected in by Shivendra Singh.

The spirited Indian forwards initiated a few more moves, one of which resulted in two consecutive penalty corners in the 10th minute. The Malaysians warded off the two threats but conceded a penalty stroke off the second short corner.

Sandeep Singh fooled the Malaysian custodian without much trouble to give his team a 2-0 lead.

Missed chance

The host came closer to open its account when a defensive lapse allowed Ismail Abu to take the ball inside the circle and shoot at the Indian post with only Adrian to beat. But the Malaysian hit it wide to spoil the chance.

Adrian was again in the thick of action when a good clearance from him prevented Seva Raju’s attempt off a nice move. The game became a drab affair with players from both sides getting involved in some mundane action in the last 15 minutes of the first session.

After the break, Indian strikers showed some agility and created a few opportunities.

Sunil hogged the limelight with a gem of a move as he dribbled past some Malaysian defenders with skilful stick-work and tried score through a reverse hit. But the ever alert Subramanian stood like a wall to avoid any further damage.

The Malaysians got a penalty corner a few seconds before the hooter and Mohammad Amin Rahim at last put it past Adrian to score the consolation goal.

The results: India 2 (Shivendra Singh 12, Sandeep Singh 15) bt Malaysia 1 (Mohd Amin Rahim 70); Argentina 2 (Facundo Callioni 47, Martin Ezequiel Sosa 59) drew with Canada 2 (Sukhwinder Singh 61, Ravi Kahlon 69); New Zealand 3 (Hayden Shaw 7, Simon Child 18, 38) bt Belgium 1 (John-john Dohmen 63). — PTI

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