Shivendra Singh stars in India’s victory over Korea

S. Thyagarajan

Ipoh: India’s conquest of the Asian Champion, Korea, by a 3-2 margin on Sunday was eventful. With seven points in three matches and two back-to-back wins in the Sultan Azlan Shah hockey tournament, India confirmed its status, as defender of the cup, a modicum of respectability.

It is a long way to the top of the podium yet. But the confidence that is likely to surface on account of this significant victory before coming to grips with the World Champion, Australia, on Monday, is a plus point.

Never before had India rued the absence of a drag flicker. Seven penalty corners went down the drain consequent to the unprofessional and flawed execution.

Fortunately, all three goals emerged out combined move, at least two of which were eye catching, if not spectacular, for their conception and execution.

Arjun Halappa hoisted the lead early in the match, providing the finishing touches, to a bout of passing with Shivendra Singh. The scorer dived in front to tap the ball in.

The second goal for India by Tushar Khandekar also had class written all over it. Shivendra did the spade work off a pass from Rajpal Singh. Tushar to put the stick for a neat deflection.

Then Shivendra scored a stunner from a cross by Danish Mujtaba. This goal stood eventually as the deciding one in the match.

Heart-warming though these efforts were, the margin should have been far more impressive. While the penalty corner conversion was insipid and pathetic, a fair measure of credit should go to the mid-field headed by Halappa.

The tenacity of of Gurbaj Singh, Bharath Chikkaraa, Prabhodh Tirkey and Vikas Pillay was noticeable. Pillay brought off a goal-line save from a penalty corner rebound hit by Nam Hyun Woo midway in the first half.

Sardar Singh, in deep defence, in the company of Mahadik struggled to contain the furious raids from the Koreans, especially the quick sallies they forged after conceding the goals.

Nam drove in a perfect penalty corner for the first equaliser in the first half. He netted again when the fierce resistance by the defenders crumbled. Only six seconds remained when India conceded the 10th penalty corner. Nam slotted in the second after the regulation time.

By no stretch of imagination was work of the defenders can be portrayed as flawless. But they succeeded in smothering pressure in penalty corners. This was largely due to the intrepid and imaginative work under the bar by Bharat Chettri. No less than three withering hits by Nam were stopped by him.

On the comeback trail after two year hiatus Chettri’s display on Sunday deserves the approbation from all.

Coach Harendra Singh admitted the absence of a tested and tried drag flicker is telling on the team’s performance. He also concurred the variations attempted here have flopped. The team is contemplating of nominating a player, whom he would not name, to venture in drag flicks in the remaining games.

Player of the match, Shivendra Singh, said he was looking forward to the tie against Australia. He could not play against it in the last World Cup in Delhi because of the controversial and much debated two-match ban after the opening match against Pakistan.

After succumbing to the enormous pressure that lasted till the early part of the second half, Pakistan pulled itself to a convincing 6-2 victory over China.

This was Pakistan’s first win in three matches. The teams were level at 2-2 until a few minutes after resumption.

But once the frontline line found its line, the team coasted to a comfortable victory thanks to two nice goals by Zubair Muhammad.

In a close contest Malaysia went down to Australia by the odd goal in three.

The results: India 3 (Arjun Halappa, Tushar Khandekar, Shivendra Singh) bt Korea 2 (Nam Hyun Woo 2).

Pakistan 6 (Imran Muhammad, Haseen Khan 2, Zubair Muhammad 2, Rizwan Ahmed) bt China 2 (Yu Yang, Sun Long).

Australia 2 (Christopher Cirello, Matt Goldes) bt Malaysia 1 (Azlan Misrom).

Monday’s matches (all times in IST): Korea vs. China (1.35 p.m.), Australia vs. India (3.35 p.m.); Egypt vs. Malaysia (5.35 p.m.) .