By S. Thyagarajan

DHAKA, MARCH 18. Periods of ennui were pronounced even as the penultimate stage matches coursed through in a prosaic fashion in the Prime Minister's Gold Cup hockey tournament today. Japan offered some resistance summoning all its resources and resilience against Pakistan. But India luxuriated against the lethargic Egypt to carve out a tally, not recorded in the semifinal round of a of competition in recent years, to set up a title fight on Tuesday with Pakistan.

To say that the presence of Cedric D'Souza offered the inspiration and guidance for India is stating the obvious. Whatever the opposition could offer, the quality of India's display cannot be underestimated. If Egypt's defence was rendered innocuous it is no small measure due to the harmony effected in the forward line where once again Dhanraj Pillay played a prominent role.

It was Pillay who really set the tone and tenor for India's effective display. Midway through, Saini served an adroit forward pass. Pillay picked it up delectably and surged ahead with Baljit Dhillon following. After a bout of passing Pillay hit the target to hoist the lead. Thereafter, India mounted steady pressure. When Pillay was obstructed by goal-keeper Oasama Hussanain, a stroke was awarded and Dhillon converted.

With the ball rolling well, India had everything to gain. The mid-field, where Arjun Halappa and Bipin Fernandes assisted now and then by newcomer Radhakrishnan were outstanding, maintained a steady pressure on the struggling Egyptian defence. Arjun Halappa scored a splendid goal close on half time and netted one more - the seventh - in the second half, revealing absolute craft and charm. Deepak Thakur showed shades of his old form, and helped himself to two goals, once in each session. He combined exceedingly well with Inderjit Singh, and the pair pushed their way through delightfully. Dhillon scored his second, also from a penalty stroke, when the Egyptian defender Ahmed Zeinhom came in the way. The ball struck him on the forehead, resulting in a bleeding injury. Even as he walked out, the Chinese Umpire, Jin Jian Min, whose rulings were dissented without qualms by the Egyptians, showed the spot. In the final minute, Radhakrishnan pushed in a rebound off a Pillay shot in a penalty corner.

A lead of 4-0 at half-time, gave the Indian coach enough leeway to try the bench strength. Bharat Chetri came in for Jude Menezes under the bar and performed with credit, if his saves from the penalty corners, were any indication. Egypt had six in the second half.

It will remain a mystery why Egypt capitulated without a trace of fight. Perhaps, the team was in no mood put in the aggression it is known for. The death of Belal Ebrahim's mother possibly had dented the concentration. That Belal chose to play despite the personal grief should be commended. The crowd stood in silence as a mark of respect to Belal's mother who died today. Mention must be made of the good work put in by skipper, Moneim, whose hard work was rendered ineffective by the haphazard frontline.

Pakistan's penalty corner machine, Sohail Abbas on a song drag flicking two into the roof of the net even before the contest was past the quarter hour with a goal by Haider Hussain slotted in between. A sweep for Pakistan at this stage was visualised by everyone. But Japan recovered to comeback into the fight. Speed was the essence of Japan's approach and as the match wore on, the Pakistani defence was palpably under stress. A thundering penalty corner by Karuao Makado narrowed the lead and before half-time Yamabori slammed in a cross from Kawada Takiya to keep the issue alive at 3-2 during the break.

Sohail's third penalty corner goal shortly after the break once again pushed Pakistan ahead. But not for long. A clean push from Kikkwa gave Yamabori a clear view of the goal, and the relentless trier banged past a stretched Ahmed Alam. A score-line of 4-3 with over 20 minutes remaining pitchforked several possibilities. But in the final minutes, a miscued penalty corner ended with Kaushif Jawaad making the most from a scrimmage.

There was a lot of cheer and rejoicing when Bangladesh finally pushed China out in a gruelling contest that passed the regulation time and the first set of strokes into the sudden death phase in the classification (5-8) match. Bangladesh, which equalised through Ariful Prince, after China had scored through Ren Baode levelled the tie break at 4-4 and won in the sudden death at 4-3.

Modudur Rahman (3), Musa Miah (2), Shahabdulla, Khokan and Yamir Hussain scored in the tie breaker sequence while, Yang Wang (2), Fengo Gao (2), Feng Jia (2) and Ren Baode, were successful for China.

Bangladesh will take on Malaysia for fifth and sixth places. Malaysia beat Scotland through a solitary goal by Mohammad Fairuz Ramli, in the second half.

Monday's matches: (7-8) Scotland v China (12-noon); (5-6) Malaysia v Bangladesh (3-30 p.m.)