Halappa is India's hero

KUALA LUMPUR, MAY 12. Arjun Halappa's twin first-half strikes lifted India to a 2-1 victory over a fighting Malaysia for a final meeting against Korea as well as an automatic qualifying spot for next year's Junior World Cup hockey championship.

India, runner-up in the 1997 Milton Keynes Junior World Cup, shot into a 2-0 lead before the plucky Malaysians pulled off a goal 20 seconds from the final hooter in the well- fought second semifinal at the Bukit Jalil stadium here today.

South Korea outplayed Japan 4-1 in the first semifinal to also book its berth for the championship to be held at Hobart, Australia, next year. Lee Jung Seon (ninth and 27th), Kim Joung Goo (11th) and Yoon Sung Hoon (70th) scored for Korea after Watanabe Yusuke put Japan ahead with a stunning first-minute strike.

Malaysia and Japan will meet to decide the third qualifying spot for the World Cup.

India applied early pressure by forcing penalty corners in the sixth, seventh and eighth minutes as the Malaysians seemed to wilt under the pressure of playing in front of a packed home crowd of over 15,000.

In the 16th minute, after the midfield had settled down somewhat, Deepak Thakur sped into the circle and saw his hit rebound off the goalkeeper's pads. But Halappa, who had followed him, picked up the ball and smartly tapped in to hoist India's lead.

India had a chance in the very next minute but after a scramble in the Malaysian circle, the ball rolled out.

India increased the lead in the 28th minute when Gagan Ajit Singh, who was just settling down, dribbled in and unleashed a shot and the Malaysian goalkeeper Kumar Subramanium squatted on the ball.

The umpire pointed to the spot to the delight of the Indian players and Halappa converted the stroke for his and India's second goal.

Just when it looked like India would dominate the proceedings, the defence started making blunders. Bimal Lakra delayed a clearance, letting Malaysia earn a penalty corner.

The host earned three consecutive penalty corners, one coming with only five seconds left in the first half. But goalkeeper Devesh Chauhan did well to charge out each time to quash Malaysia's effort and put India 2-0 ahead at the break.

In an evenly-balanced second half, Malaysia tried to break through but the Indian tactics of packing the midfield paid off.

India had two forwards - Deepak Thakur and Gagan Ajit Singh - continuously prodding the Malaysian defence and came up with a couple of chances. However, the host goalkeeper, after an indifferent first half, did a commendable job to keep the Indians away.

Meanwhile, Malaysia earned six penalty corners in the last 10 minutes of the game, but Devesh Chauhan did well to keep the Malaysians at bay.

Malaysia, finally, scored with 20 seconds to go when Chua gave the ball to Keevan who deflected it past Devesh.

India played with 10 men in the last five minutes as Bipin Fernandez was shown the yellow card for dangerous play.

Len Aiyappa almost gave the advantage away in the last couple of minutes committing two consecutive errors as he tried to scoop the ball with the Malaysian defenders in front provoking the umpires to award penalty corners.

Capitalising on penalty corners

The South Koreans survived an early scare against Japan in the first semifinal.

Japan went ahead in the very first minute of the game through a field goal by Watanabe who beat a defender before

putting the ball into the net.

The Korean coach's emphasis on penalty corner conversions paid dividends today as Korea equalised through a corner in the ninth minute. Lee Jung-Seon's flick went past the Japanese goalkeeper's hands and sounded the boards.

Two minutes later, Kim Jong-Goo put Korea 2-1 up with another penalty corner conversion. Jung-Seon converted another penalty corner to consolidate the lead. The Japanese had a few chances before the lemon break but their forwards let them down.

In the second half, Japan tried hard to reduce the lead but the Koreans packed their defence. Satisfied with their lead, the Koreans mounted very few attacks but Sung-Hoon scored another in the dying seconds to round off a 4-1 win.

- PTI & UNI

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Sport
Previous : India placed fifth
Next     : Olympics: Indian probables' list released