India gets the better of Malaysia
S. Thyagarajan
With a display that as impressive as it was incisive, India put it across to Malaysia before a packed gathering to win 3-2 in the Azlan Shah hockey tournament on Monday. India led 1-0 at half time.
This was India’s second win in four matches. The team has six points with matches remaining against Argentina and Pakistan.
On this day, India looked every inch a winning combination. True, there were anxious moments whenever the host exerted pressure.
But the defenders, headed well by goal-keeper Bharat Chetri managed to face seven penalty corners. Malaysia slotted only a solitary one in the second half.
Fluency and finesse
There was a noticeable element of fluency and finesse in the attack where Shivendra Singh, Danish Mujtaba and Sunil stood out. As always, Sardara Singh commanded the mid-field with the adeptness and authority of a master. Never once did he put his foot or the stick wrong.
Almost every move emanated from this indomitable warrior.
Sardara paved the way for the first goal working in tandem with Danish who eventually finished.
A bad stop from a penalty corner proved rewarding in the end when Shivendra slammed in the second with only little more than 10 minutes had rolled in to the match.
An attempt by Uthappa off Sunil and by Walmiki almost exposed the limitations of the Malaysian defensive phalanx.
India walked out for the break with a 2-0 lead.
But shortly after resumption, Rahim shot in a penalty corner, raising huge expectations among the audience.
Then it was India that forged ahead. Again the prompter was Sardara, whose cross to Shivendra was baulked by goal-keeper Kumar.
From the rebound, Tushar drove the ball into the cage with palpable relish.
For a brief period, India slackened and a yellow card for Raghunath heightened tension. It was at this juncture that Firti Saari flicked in a goal to reduce the margin. An yellow card for Sandeep added to the confusion in the defence.
Actually when India forced its third penalty corner neither Raghunath nor Sandeep was on the field. An improvised back-hander by Sardara almost curved in but landed on the crossbar and spun away.
Argentina revels
Unpredictable as always, Argentina stunned everyone when it inflicted 3-2 defeat on Great Britain to take a second win in four matches.
The margin mirrors as to which was the dominating side.
Each goal by Argentina was bordered on brilliance, but nothing captivated more than that effort by Mathais Paredes when he sent the ball crashing into the boards.
Pepped up, Argentina wove intricate patterns around the hard-working British defenders headed by Ben Hawes who functioned like a beaver.
An Ashley Jackson penalty corner, executed with perfection, levelled the score.
But Paredes shot in again a cross from Mazzili and Lucas Commareri hoisted the third.
All that Britain could do in the remaining time was narrow down the margin for which Jackson again took the credit.
Korea courted its first win in three matches.
The margin was convincing largely due to the inept performance of Pakistan, which suffered both in attack and finish.
The frontline frittered away no less than half a dozen chances. All the guiles and wiles of the once feared and admired Sohail Abbas failed to subdue the Korean custodian.
The pace and precision ingrained in the Korean sallies were enough to overpower the rival.
In the end, the skill to finish proved the decisive factor.
The results: Korea 4 (Ham Hyun Woo 2, You Hyo Sik, Hyun Hye Sung) bt Pakistan 0; Argentina 3(Mathias Paredes 2, Lucas Commareri) bt Great Britain 2 (Ashley Jasckon 2); India 3 (Danish Mujtaba, Shivendra Singh, Tushar Khandekar) bt Malaysia 2 ( Amin Rahim, Fitri Saari).