India barely escapes embarrassment against China

S. Thyagarajan

Ipoh: Surviving plenty of embarrassing moments and with defeat looming large by the second, India managed a pathetic 1-1 verdict against China, the equaliser from rookie Ravi Pal coming 17 seconds before the hooter in the Azlan Shah hockey tournament here on Thursday.

For the defending champion, it was a depressing performance to be banished from the mind before the next encounter with Pakistan on Friday.

Coach Jose Brasa was probably so disappointed by the team’s showing that he skipped the post match media conference. Brasa is reported to have told officials that he had been prohibited by the Government from talking to the media.

Harendra Singh, listed as the national coach in the official press release of Hockey India, is given the status of manager in the team sheet here. The Tournament Director was informed of Brasa’s reasons for giving the media briefing a miss.

However, former international and junior coach Clarence Lobo fended off probing questions from reporters on India’s poor display.

Lobo conceded that India was thoroughly disappointing. He added the team had felt the absence of Arjun Halappa, who is nursing an injury. Halappa is also likely to miss the crucial game against Pakistan.

A drag-flicker missed

It was clear that the team suffered for want of a drag flicker (India does have a handful of specialists). Five penalty corners were frittered away in attempting a different mode of conversion. The efforts looked amateurish.

China found a snap goal midway in the first half. But there was an appalling lack of ingenuity on India’s part. The Chinese were more athletic, covered the field well and, with excellent trapping, showed palpable vibrancy in their work-outs.

The Indians were tentative. They failed to carry out attacks with conviction. Barring Gurbaj Singh, and to some extent Bharath Chikkara, the rest of the squad displayed no urgency or enterprise against the well-organised Chinese defenders.

Sun Tianjun, who scored the match-winner, stood out in the attack almost throughout. Sprinting down the line with unusual verve, he had the Indian defenders at sixes and sevens along with Meng Jin and the seasoned Na Yubo.

Korea’s quest to regain the trophy it last won in 1996 received a boost when its principal penalty corner striker, Nam Hyun Woo, slotted in three goals in the opening match against Egypt.

Splendid save

A splendid save by goalkeeper Mubrouk Mohammad in the first minute raised hopes of Egyptian resilience against a more seasoned opponent. But that did not come through, as he was beaten repeatedly.

Another moment for Egypt came in the last minute when Ahmed Alfatah, left unguarded for a fleeing second by the Korean defence, made a move but shot wide.

Late in the evening, the home team and Pakistan shared points with a 3-3 draw.

Malaysia held the upper hand after recovering from a 0-1 deficit but conceded the leveller 20 seconds before the final whistle.

The results:

Korea 6 (Hyun Nam Woo 3, Kim Young Jin, Lee Nam Young, Yu Wio Suk) bt Egypt 0.

China 1 (Sun Tianjun) drew with India 1 (Ravi Pal).

Malaysia 3 (Hafifihafiz Hanafi 2, Amin Rahim) drew with Pakistan 3 (Rasool Hafquat, Ifran Muhammad, Zubhair Mohammad).

Friday’s matches: Australia v Egypt, India v Pakistan, Korea v Malaysia.