Pakistan defeats Bangladesh; Korea blanks Oman

HYDERABAD: Drag-flicker Diwakar Ram struck three goals, including two in the last five minutes, as India scored a convincing 6-0 win over Singapore in the sixth junior Asia Cup hockey championship here on Monday.

India with three wins topped Pool ‘A’, while Japan was the other qualifier from this pool for the semifinals.

Diwakar’s indifferent form in the initial stages resulted in the utilisation of Innocent Kullu for the penalty corners. This seemed to spur Diwakar on as he did well in the final minutes to ensure a big victory margin.

Dominating show

India dominated the first-half with the forwardline of Roshan Minz, Gurwinder Singh Chandi, S.V. Sunil and Pramod Kumar repeatedly testing the rival defence.
The first goal came in the 25th minute when Minz latched on to a neat pass from the left to find the target. A minute later Ranjeet Singh made it 2-0 after picking up a perfect pass from the left by Pramod Kumar.

Singapore seemed content to guard its citadel and there was not a single attempt at the goal. But to Singapore’s credit, the defence manned by Farhan Kamsani, Muhammad Sairulnizam Rahmat tried hard under pressure. Goalkeeper Rameshwaran Dhanagopal also brought off some good saves.

3-0 at the break

But, India scored its third goal with Diwakar converting the fifth penalty corner in the 31st minute. At half time it was 3-0.

After resumption the enterprising Gurwinder Singh Chandi dribbled his way close to the ‘D’ on the left-flank before essaying a reverse flick to give India 4-0 lead. Then Diwakar got into the scoring act twice in the last five minutes to ensure a big win.
Earlier, Pakistan after trailing 1-2 at the break against Bangladesh, found its rhythm in the second session to post a convincing 8-2 win. The score was at 2-2 for quite some time.

Credit should go to custodian Imran Shah for bringing off some splendid saves against the aggressive Bangladesh combination of captain Rasel Mahmud, Sheikh Md. Nannu and Iqbal Nadir.

Tuesday is a rest day. In the semifinals on Wednesday, India takes on Pakistan, while Korea meets Japan.

The results:

Pool ‘A’: India 6 (Roshan Minz, Ranjit Singh, Diwakar Ram 3, Gurwinder Singh) bt Singapore 0.

Japan 3 (Ken Yoshikawa 2, Ryota Kubo) bt Malaysia 1 (Muhammad Marhan Mohd Jalil).
Pool ‘B’: Pakistan 8 (Kashif Ali, Abdul Haseem Khan 2, Shafqat Rasool 2, Inayatullah, Muhammad Zubair 2) bt Bangladesh 2 (Ashaduzzaman Chandan, Iqbal Nadir).

Korea 11 (Kang Moon Kyu 3, Im Kyoung Ju 2, Seo Jun Su 2, Lim Woo Geun, Jeon Byung Jin 2, Bae Jong Suk) bt Oman 0.