Indian women falter in the final

Australian women recovered from a goal down to beat India 4-1 in the final of the Lanco International Super Series Hockey 9s tournament here on Sunday.

Australia dominated early, but it was India that opened the scoring against the trend of play through Soundarya Yendala in the ninth minute.

However, Australia struck back through Hope Munro and Kellie White in quick succession and led 2-1 at the break.

The home side broke the game open early in the second half with goals from Marnie Hudson and Ashleigh Nelson within 60 seconds.

Double for Australia

Australia edged out traditional rival New Zealand 5-3 to win the men’s final.

The home side was heavily favoured to win the final of the innovative nine-a-side tournament, which also showcased other trial rules such as shortened 15-minute halves and widened goals, but faced a spirited Kiwi challenge.

Australia, which thrashed New Zealand 7-1 earlier in the tournament, looked in control when it led 3-1 in the first half.

However, the Kiwis lifted to draw level early in the second half when Stephen Jenness added to the two goals Blair Hilton had already scored.

The favourite for the 2012 London Olympics eventually steadied from a short corner in the 25th minute, with Liam De Young converting to restore the lead before Glenn Turner sealed the title with less than two minutes to play.

Pakistan’s first win

In the men’s third place playoff, Pakistan saved the best for the last to thrash arch-rival India 4-1 and notch its first win of the tournament.

The profligate Indians frittered away chances galore to sign off at the bottom of the heap.

With wayward shooting inside the circle, the Indians had only themselves to blame as even a sizeable fan turnout also failed to inspire them.

Rajpal Singh struck India’s lone goal at the stroke of lemon break through a penalty corner. The match started briskly, with India dominating the first five minutes or so but it was Pakistan which moved the scoreboard early on.

Pakistan converted the half chances that came its way to go up 2-0 within the first 12 minutes. Captain Shakeel Abbasi (7th minute) and Muhammad Waqas (12th minute) took the match away from the Indians.

Goals thereafter came easily for Pakistan with Fareed Ahmed (17th minute) and Waqas giving finishing touches to a good attack in the 21st minute.

To add to India’s woes, Vikas Sharma got a green card suspension along with Pakistan getting a penalty corner in the sixth minute.

Abbasi got the feed in the resultant penalty drill, and whacked the ball in with his characteristic backhand to flummox Indian goal-keeper Sreejesh for the first goal of the match.

Thereafter, there was no stopping the team that had already qualified for the Olympics by virtue of being the Asian Games champion.

Sardar Singh, Gurbaj Singh and defender Raghunath created many moves for the forwards to score, but Sunil, Yuvraj Walmiki and Tushar Khandekar were rusty.

Hard-earned crosses and pushes into the circle went abegging with the forwards not even making a semblance of an effort.

Tushar, in the 25th minute, was served from near the circle by Sarwanjit Singh but he let the ball pass him silently.

Two minutes later, Yuvraj hit the side netting after getting a pass from Gurbaj on the right.

Indian captain Bharat Chhetri, who played the second half of the crucial match, expressed surprise on the team’s performance.

“We did not play our usual game. We lost our usual rhythm also. In fact, we lost the game when we missed at least three clear chances within the first five minutes. I think we lost the game when that happened,” Chhetri admitted.

“We ourselves did not expect we will lose the game this way, that too to Pakistan,” he added.