Sensational Diwakar saves the day for India colts

SYDNEY: Captain Diwakar Ram slammed four goals including two late strikes to help India eke out a 5-5 draw against Malaysia in an inconsequential
final league match of the men’s hockey event in the Australian Youth Olympic Festival on Saturday.

In a high-scoring crowd stunner at the Hockey Centre, Sydney Olympic Park, Diwakar converted four penalty corners to save the day for the Indians.

The two sides were levelled 3-3 at interval with Diwakar contributing two goals for India
till then. He then converted two penalty corners in the final nine minutes after his side was down 3-5 till the 61st minute.

The Indian colts will now take on Australia, whom they have defeated in their earlier league encounter, in the summit clash on Sunday.

In the girls’ event, India at last registered their first victory of the tournament, beating USA 2-0, though the result came too late as the eves were already out of contention for the summit clash after losing their first two matches.

They will be up against the same opponents, USA, in the bronze medal match.

In the pulsating boy’s encounter, India took the lead in the seventh minute through Jay Karan but Malaysia equalised when Abdul Gaffar found the net two minutes later from a short corner. Diwakar doubled the lead in the 19th minute.

However, Ahmad Tajuddin helped Malaysia made the scoreline level in the 21st minute only to see the India skipper regain the lead three minutes later.

But Gaffar struck again for Malaysia in the 33rd minute to see both the teams go into the breather locked at 3-3.