Date:10/05/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/05/10/stories/2008051060752100.htm

Sport - Hockey

India suffers second defeat

Ipoh (Malaysia): Sloppy defence cost India dear as it suffered an embarrassing 5-1 defeat against Argentina in the Sultan Azlan Shah hockey tournament here on Friday.

The jittery Indians, who had lost 4-3 to New Zealand in their opening match, put up a rather pathetic display to find themselves at the bottom of the points table after two matches.

The Argentineans relied on the brilliance of Facundo Callioni, who struck three goals, while Pedro Ibarra and Tomas Incento chipped in with a goal each in what turned out to a one-sided contest.

Drag flicker Sandeep Singh scored the only goal for the Indian team which comprised mostly of junior players who were found wanting against their much faster opponents. In other league matches, Pakistan prevailed over New Zealand 6-3, while Canada scraped past Belgium with a 1-0 verdict.

The results: Canada 1 (Matthew Guest 50) bt Belgium 0; Pakistan 6 (Rehan Butt 11, 30, 60, 69, Shakeel Abbasi 14, Muhammad Saqlain 28) bt New Zealand 3 (Phillip Burrows 6, Hayden Shaw 33, 47); Argentina 5 (Facundo Callioni 11, 44, Pedro Ibarra 31, Tomas Argento 45, Juan Martin Lopez 53) bt India 1 (Sandeep Singh 25). — Agencies