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Hockey
KAULA LUMPUR, MARCH 2. Against the background of the drama, tension and tempestuous exchanges, highlighting the exit of the chief coach, Cedric D'Souza, visualising a win for India in the evening was not very high for everyone on the agenda. But the first success in five matches against Cuba injected some measure of fresh air although it would be foolhardy to read more than necessary significance into the verdict in group B of the hockey World Cup here.
Germany 2 -- New Zealand 1 The first favourable outcome in five games was notable for the free movement gained by the Indian forwards in the rival area. True, the Cubans, minus their enthusiasm and a bit of hard running, were not expected to bolt the route to the goal for the quick moving Indians. Besides enjoying the fluent runs in, the Indians showed considerable lack of skill in defending the individual sallies by the Cubans, especially from Rodriguez Hernandez. The fact that they managed to fork as many as six penalty corners, five in the second half should be taken an as an index to the errors in the defence line. For the first time in this World Cup, India led. This came in the early minutes from a perfect penalty corner hit by Dilip Tirkey. Buoyed by this success, the Indians, led commendably again by the silken touches of Dhanraj Pillay, enmeshed the rival defence. Assessed from the number of chances created, India could have doubled the margin had only shooting been a bit more accurate. Midway through India enlarged the score-line thanks to a nice indirect conversion of a penalty corner by Daljit Singh Dhillon off a flick by Baljit Singh Dhillon. Even before the cheers could die down came another goal, Deepak Thakur finding the target. Bipin Fernandez missed an easy chance before half- time with India leading 3-0. For a fairly large part of the second half, the Cubans pressured the Indian defence. With the mid-field not exactly exhilarating, the Cubans, with Sayaz Gonzalez as the vanguard, attacked with gusto. There were moments when it looked as though the defence would melt by the sheer ferocity of the Cuban sallies. Goal-keeper Devesh Chauhan however should be complimented for the athleticism he displayed in stopping a few hits by Blanco Herandez. For a quarter of an hour, the Cubans did threaten to split open the defence but lack experience came in their way. After Arjun Halappa missed a sitter midway in the second half, Baljit Singh Saini scored off a pass from Arjun Halappa. Without Cedric and Dr. Kannan in the bench, C.R. Kumar handled the team. Kumar claimed that Cedric was still the chief coach and was happy that India could take full points. Dr. Tuli, who flew in from Delhi two days ago, took over as the team's doctor. Easy for Australia Korea Leaders in Group B, Australia and Korea recorded comfortable victories to virtually confirm their places in the last four, while Argentina, on the recovery mode collected full points from Belgium in Pool A, where the Netherlands, profiting from a brilliant penalty corner goal by Bram Lomans, defending the lethal penalty corner hits by Sohail Abbas, managed to clinch full points against Pakistan. Bram Lomans figured again in the list by converting a stroke when a stick check by Usman brought the penalty to Pakistan. Fighting against a 0-2 lead, the Pakistanis reduced the lead late in the match from a goal by Khalid Saleem. Holland leads the table with 13 points in Pool A. Malaysia's finest hour Host Malaysia had its finest hour of the championship with a convincing victory against England scoring one in each half. Before a packed stadium, the Malaysians kept their supporters in good cheer with consistent forays. Malaysia hoisted the lead when Maninderjit Singh converted a stroke, which resulted from an obstruction by Jon Wyatt off a penalty corner push by Kuhen Shanmuganathan. In the second half, not letting up pressure, Malaysia increased the lead from a shot by Mohammad Nor Mazli. When only four minutes remained for the hooter, Dave Mathews slammed in a penalty corner, sending waves of panic into the Malaysian defence who had harrowing time in the final minutes. It was not smooth sailing for the top guns in Pool A, either for Germany or for Spain this morning. While Germany managed only a narrow victory over New Zealand, Spain, aspiring to be in the last four, after downing Germany, crawled to a draw against South Africa. The Kiwis equalled Bjorn Michel's lead for Germany in the second half through a penalty stroke by Hymie Gill. Christoph Bechmman saved the day when 10 minutes remained from the hooter. Spain was not that fortunate. Everytime it went into the lead, South Africa hit back. Pol Amat's early goal was levelled by Clyde Abrahams within a minute, and before half-time Eduard Tubau put the Spaniards ahead only to see it neutralised in the final minute by Justin King. Other results: Pool A: Argentina 3 (Vila Rodrigo, Jorge Lombi 2) bt Belgium 1 (Charles Vandeweghe). Pool B: Australia 5 (Jeremy Hiskens, Mathew Wells 2, Craig Victory 2) bt Japan 0; Korea 4 (Hwang Jong Hyun, Kim Jung Chul, Kim Kyung Seok, Lee Jung Seon). Sunday's matches: Argentina v New Zealand (1- 35 p.m. IST), Pakistan v Spain (3-35 p.m.); South Africa v Belgium (4-05 P-2), Netherlands v Germany (5-35 p.m.).
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