Chhetri carries India through to final

Prabhjot Singh

Tribune News service

Goalkeeper Bharat Chhetri carried India through to the gold medal match after home team, trailing 1-3, made a splendid recovery to take the game to penalties with 3-3 deadlock remaining unresolved even after 15 minutes of extra time at the historic Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium here tonight.

For India, it is India’s maiden entry into the gold medal round in three appearance in the Commonwealth Games Hockey competition. India will now challenge Australia, the champion of all previous editions of the tournament.

In the first semi-final, Australia continued to pelt goals at will and defeated New Zealand 6-2 for its fourth consecutive entry in the final.

For India it turned out to be a remarkable win as England had beaten them at the same venue during the last World Cup Hockey Tournament early this year.

India started on a cautious note without taking any chances against the English boys who had a splendid run of wins in the round robin league. After first 15 minutes that saw travelling from end to end in a fast paced game, India was first to draw the blood from its first penalty corner it earned in the 19th minute.

It was Sarvanjit Singh who picked the ball from the pads of goalkeeper James fair to guide it into the goal. Stung by the reverse, England was all over Indian half, swarming like stinging bees giving defence a tough time.

Sardar Singh, who was once again cynosure of all eyes with his intelligent interceptions and tough tackling, inspired both Sandeep and Gurbaj Singh to nullify the opponents advances. He also found a reliable defender in Prabodh Tirkey at the flank.

But India could not carry the lead to the second half. With 10 seconds to go, Indian defence cracked under pressure and conceded a penalty corner. England gleefully accepted the chance and saw their crack flicker, Ashley Jackson, beating the home team defence with a flick that landed in the right corner of the goal.

After change of ends, when England forced its second penalty corner, Ashley Jackson repeated his drill to put England ahead 2-1 and four minutes later and nine minutes into the second half, it was Simon Mantell, elder of Mantell brothers, playing for England, to score team’s third goal. Undaunted by the two major reverses, India, supported by the strong crowd, played back into the game mounting raids from the flanks with Gurbaj, Rajpal, Tushar fed by Sardar Singh and at times by Sandeep Singh creating openings.

It was Vikram Pillay who latched on to one excellent swipe by Sandeep Singh and beat fair neat and clear for India’s second goal. Five minutes later in the 61st minute, Sarvanjit took full advantage of a goal line pass from Rajpal to bring teams to par.

Once the team were level, India mounted tremendous pressure but Fair and the English weathered the onslaught and survived several anxious moments before the extra time was enforced.

India looked a better side in the extra time but could not score. As the battle was extended to penalties, Bharat Chhetri did the trick by saving one from Glen Kirkham, the third by English team, as all five Indians – Sarvanjit, Vikram Pillay, Sandeep Singh, Arjun Halappa and Shivendra Singh scored.

A brace each by Simon Orchard and Glenn Turner helped Australia to trounce New Zealand 6-2 after leading 3-0 at the breather. Blair Hilton and skipper Phil Burrows were the scorers for New Zealand. Earlier, Pakistan lost to South Africa in extra time in the match for the fifth and sixth position after the teams were tied 2-2 at the end of the stipulated period.

n India’s Maiden entry into gold-medal round

n Trailing 1-3, India made a splendid recovery to take the game to penalties with 3-3 deadlock remaining unresolved even after 15 minutes of extra time.

n Bharat Chhetri did the trick by saving one from Glen Kirkham, the third by English team, as all five Indians – Sarvanjit, Vikram Pillay, Sandeep Singh, Arjun Halappa and Shivendra Singh scored in penalty shoot-out.

n India now face Australia, the champion of all previous editions of the tournament, on October 14