India swamps China, on course for semifinals

KUALA LUMPUR, MAY 5. Powered by double strikes from Arjun Halappa, Gagan Ajit Singh and Deepak Thakur India crushed China 8-1 to be on course for a semifinal berth in the junior Asia Cup hockey tournament here on Friday night.

India went into the lead early after struggling a bit in the first few minutes and then maintained its superiority throughout to outplay its lowly Pool B opponent and score its second win in as many matches. India defeated Bangladesh 5-1 in its first match on Tuesday.

Besides the twin strikes each by the three, Len Aiyappa and Prabodh Tirkey struck one each for India while Song Yi scored the lone consolation goal for China.

Earlier, strong contender South Korea maintained its superb momentum towards a semifinal berth as it blanked Singapore 10-0 in a Pool A match.

Coach C.R. Kumar was thrilled with the team's showing and said the boys were looking forward to the tricky group clash with Japan, which also has two wins.

``The entire team played well and it didn't repeat the mistakes it did against Bangladesh. I am very satisfied with the victory and both Gagan Ajit Singh and Deepak Thakur are now combining very well with the rest of the team,'' he said.

But the Indians did not have an easy start and it was China which dominated the initial exchanges.

The Indian midfield seemed a little sluggish to begin with and China, taking advantage of this, fought its way into the Indian circle. But the Indian defence led by skipper Lazarus Barla stood its ground.

Five minutes into the match Bimal Lakra started playing confidently, relaying some good balls upfront. One such move in the 10th minute found Inderjit Singh upfront and he passed the ball to Halappa whose tap just beat the Chinese goalkeeper to give India the lead.

India should have controlled the game and surged through but the Chinese counter-attacked superbly. Indian goalkeeper Devesh Chauhan was the star in the defence as he time and again kept the Chinese forwards at bay. Devesh also saved three penalty corners by charging out and taking the shots on the pad giving the defenders space to clear the ball.

Yu Yang and Song Yi, the two Chinese forwards twice broke into the circle as the Indian defence was caught napping but on both occasions Devesh came to the rescue.

With around six minutes remaining in the first half, India again re-asserted its midfield but failed to convert it into goals. Prabhjot Singh was the culprit as he thrice failed to connect with crosses from the right flank. Twice he failed to trap and once after beating the Chinese goalkeeper, he couldn't control the ball.

India went 2-0 in the 33rd minute after some smart work by Gagan Ajit Singh. The Indian centre-forward stole the ball from a Chinese in the midfield and then passed to Prabhjot whose shot hit the post and bounced back into play. Thakur, who was rushing into the circle, picked up the rebound easily and slammed home.

After change of ends, India started strongly as Gagan beat the Chinese defence but his reverse hit sailed over.

In the 44th minute, Gagan was again in the thick of action going past two defenders but as he dribbled away from goalkeeper Su Rifeng, the Chinese custodian brought him down. Halappa converted the penalty stroke for India to make it 3-0.

In the 49th minute, Prabhjot went into the Chinese circle and with the defence bearing down on him passed to Gagan Ajit who tapped the ball in for the fourth goal.

India earned its second penalty corner in the 52nd minute and Len Aiyappa's powerful flick went in, beating Su Rifeng.

The Indian midfield was playing extremely well now as it had the Chinese forwards bottled up. Along with falling back, it was also giving some good through balls to the forwards.

In the 56th minute, Prabodh Tirkey joined the goal fest as he trapped a free ball in the circle to shoot home the sixth goal for India. A couple of minutes later, Thakur raced into the circle after a beautiful ball from Bimal Lakra and his powerful shot hit the goalkeepers gloves but still carried into goal to make it 7-0 for India.

Three minutes later, Gagan was again on target as his deflection from a cross from the left beat the Chinese goalkeeper yet again to complete the tally for India.

Just when it looked that India would finally go with an 8-0 margin, China scored in the last seconds when Song Yi deflected in a free hit from outside the circle to make it 1-8.

Korea, which plays Malaysia on Sunday, moved to the top of the group with six points after yet another clinical display.

In another match of the day, Uzbekistan beat Iran 6-0.

Having beaten Chinese Taipei 13-1 in their first match, the Koreans continued their big winning run against Singapore.

Singapore, which had lost its tournament opener to Pakistan 0-13, seemed like keeping the Koreans quiet as at the break, the winner had only scored four goals.

But immediately after the break, Korea mounted pressure and slammed in six goals past the tired Singapore defence.

Korea started with two field goals in the 10th and 17th minutes off Eo Jong Ho and Lee Jung Seon.

Though Singapore managed to keep the Koreans away through man-to- man marking, the latter which constantly moved into the rival half, managed two more goals before the break.

In the 19th minute Kim Joung Goo converted a stroke to make it 3- 0 and then Lee Jung Seon scored his second goal and Korea's fourth by striking home a field goal.

Korea's fifth goal came five minutes after the break when Kim Chul sounded the board off a field attempt. Two minutes later, Yoon Sung Hoon made it 6-0 with another field goal.

Kim Joung Goo got his second and Korea's seventh from a rasping penalty corner drive in the 50th minute while Yoon Sung Hoon followed suit in slamming home his second foal when he flicked in a field goal to bring to make it 8-0.

Jung Seong Tae made it 9-0 in the 56th minute while Kim Joung Goo rounded off the tally when he went in alone to score Korea's 10th goal.

- PTI

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