South Asian Games: India go down to Pak, settle for silver in hockey

DHAKA: Senior duo of Dharamvir Singh and Varinderjeet Singh misfired in tie-breaker as India had to content with a silver after going down to arch-rivals Pakistan 4-5 in a keenly contested hockey summit clash in 11th South Asian Games on Sunday.

The final match, which saw a fast start at the Moulana Bhashani Stadium, had to be stretched into the tie-breaker after the stipulated time did not produce any result, with the score levelled at 1-1.

During the tie-breaker, India struck thrice through V Raghunath, Innoncent Kullu and Vikas Pillai, but two seniors Dharamvir and Varinderjeet missed their chances as India’s hope for another gold dashed.

Pakistan struck through Wasif Siddique, Kashif Javid and Tasawar Abbas, while in the fourth shot Zeeshan Ali missed.

In the crucial fifth shot, skipper Sabtain Raja held his nerve and found the target to settle the issue.

Earlier, India took the first lead after senior most pro Raghunath converted a penalty corner in the sixth minute of the match.

India dominated the first 35 minutes and went into the break with the sole lead.

But after the changeover Pakistan equalised in the 45th minute when Siddique scooped the ball nicely which found back of the net.

Locked 1-1 after the stipulated time, the teams played out the 30 minutes extra time but the stalemate prevailed and the match advanced into the tie-breaker.

The match also saw some tense moments. With 12 minutes left for the break, both the teams got involved in a scuffle when Amit Kumar Prabhakar hit a Pakistan player as both the captains instead of bringing the situation under control got into the fight.

Bangladesh Police had to interfere to bring the situation under control as match officials sent off both the captains — Sabtain and Ajitesh Roy of India — as warning.

Prabhakar was suspended for six minutes. India custodian Mrinal Chaubey thwarted two penalty corners — one in the second half followed by another in the second part of the extra time — as the match advanced into tie-breaker with a 1-1 scoreline.

In another match, Bangladesh bounced back from one-goal deficit to register a 2-1 win over Sri Lanka for the bronze medal.