India beat Egypt, reach Azlan Shah final
Drag-flicker Dhananjay Mahadik scored a hat-trick as defending champions India crushed Egypt 7-1 to enter the final of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament here today. Mahadik (34th, 40th, 42nd minute), skipper Rajpal Singh (44th), Rupinder Pal Singh (48th), Tushar Khandekar (49th), Sarvanjit Singh (70th) scored for India in what was a must-win match, while Abd El Hakim Ahmed (68th) was the lone Egyptian goal-getter.
India will take on Korea in the summit clash tomorrow. India had earlier made six appearances in the final of the tournament and ended on the victorious side on four occasions in 1985, 1991, 1995 and 2009. They had lost to Argentina in the 2008 title clash by a golden goal. Contrary to the result, India were made to struggle in the first half by the Egyptians and were denied the lead till the 34th minute when Mahadik flicked from their sixth penalty corner.
Though the Indian forwards attacked relentlessly from the start, initially they found the Egyptian defence like a wall, especially goalkeeper Mabrouk Mohamed. Indian forwardline comprising Shivendra Singh, Rajpal, Mandeep Antil and Tushar were ably supported up by Gurbaj Singh, Arjun Halappa, Vikas Pillay and Ravi Pal Singh in the midfield but Mahadik’s goal was what they could manage in the first half. — PTI