India tops Group A

By Kamesh Srinivasan

LUDHIANA, JAN. 21. India played well in spells to top group `A' with a 3-0 triumph over Bangladesh in the Asian Schools hockey tournament at the Punjab Agricultural University ground here on Sunday.

The host missed chances aplenty, and had to wait till the 33rd minute to open its account, as Bangladesh pressed hard in a battle of prestige. However, once India tasted a goal it was able to emphasise its authority.

If the young Indian boys thought that they could handle Bangladesh with the same disdain they had shown in dismissing the Sri Lankan challenge, they were mistaken.

Bangladesh has been training together for nearly two years, but the team showed its short-comings, especially in stopping the penalty corner push. Yamin Hossain smashed the ball home twice, but the execution was disallowed, as the ball was not stopped `dead' the first time, and the second time, it was a rising hit that found the net.

After missing three chances and two penalty corners, India shot ahead as Bharat deflected a pass from Satwinder Singh past the goalkeeper. A minute on resumption, India consolidated its position when Ravinder Kumar pushed the ball in to the semicircle and cracked it into the cage.

Playing a lot better than before, India made a few raids to match the Bangladesh aggression, but skipper Raju Singh and Satwinder Singh were quite erratic to be able to increase the tally for long.

Raju compensated for the mistakes a minute from the hooter as he swept the ball into the goal, when Vipul Halwan pushed it to him during the team's fourth penalty corner.

Singapore swamps Iran

Singapore played well to humble Iran 5-0, and grabbed the last qualifier's spot, as India, Malaysia and Bangladesh had already confirmed their position on Saturday.

Nee Yong Ling Samuel scored two goals in the space of four minutes towards the end of the first half to make a semifinal berth look realistic for the team, after it had drawn with Uzbekistan, the contender for the second spot from the group.

In the second half the Singaporeans celebrated their good work with three more goals, with Noorkhari Bin Samsudin, Herman Bin Mansoor and Mohammed Hafiz finding the target in the space of four minutes towards the end of the second half.

The Uzbeks needed a draw against Malaysia to pip Singapore for the race to the knock-out stage, but ended up losing 0-4. The Malaysians struck in the 17th minute of the first half, converting their third penalty corner through Prabakaran Periyathamby, who deflected a push by Suffian Mohammad.

Prabakaran converted a penalty stroke, awarded by umpire Satinder Sharma for the defence stick-checking Abu Ismail, to boost the tally. Abu himself beat the goalkeeper two minutes from the halftime hooter, after Suffian Mohammad's two successive shots were stopped by the Uzbek goalkeeper Marsel Askarov.

In the semifinals, to be played on January 24, Malaysia will play Bangladesh, and India will be challenged by Singapore.

lThe league standings: (read as played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against and points): Group A: India 2-2-0-0-15-0-6; Bangladesh 2-1-0-1-3-3-3; Sri Lanka 2-0-0-2-0-15-0.

Group B: Malaysia 3-3-0-0-12-0-9; Singapore 3-1-1-1-6-3-4; Uzbekistan 3-1-1-1-3-6-4; Iran 3-0-0-3-1-13-0.

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Section  : Sport
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