Sport

Diwakar delivers for India

— Photo: Mohd. Yousuf

CLEAN STRIKE: Diwakar Ram (right), who fashioned India’s win, converting a penalty corner in the junior Asia Cup in Hyderabad on Friday.

HYDERABAD: Drag-flicker Diwakar Ram saved the day by scoring two goals as India recorded a 2-0 win over Japan in a Pool ‘A’ encounter of the sixth junior Asia Cup hockey championship at the Gachibowli Complex here on Friday.

It was not a dominant show by the host despite taking an early lead. India scored its first goal in the sixth minute through a penalty corner conversion by Diwakar.

If chief coach A. K. Bansal was harbouring hopes of a facile win at that stage, it turned out to be misplaced. For, the Japanese, with the enterprising trio of Ken Yoshikawa, Daisuke Suzuki and Kenta Tanaka, seriously tested the Indian defence.

Soon Tanaka essayed a splendid run down the right flank which culminated in a penalty corner. However, the brilliance of goalkeeper P.R. Sreejesh denied Japan the equaliser. The Indian goalkeeper first blocked the hit by Takayasu Mizawa and then came up with another splendid effort to block a close range shot off the rebound.

Japan had another close look at the goal but Tanaka, who was close to the goalline, failed to trap a long cross from the right.

These moves seemed to have rattled the Indians as they went on the defensive after that. Except for the odd foray into the striking zone by the speedy Gurwinder Singh Chandi who was well supported by S. V. Sunil and Roshan Minz, the forwardline lacked direction upfront. At half-time, India led by a solitary goal.

In the second session, the story was no different as the Japanese fought hard. India could have scored the second goal almost on resumption through the Sunil-Mandeep Antil-Gurbaj Singh combination. However, skipper Gurbaj failed to control his hit on the run and the ball went out.

Just when the pressure was building up in the face of a solid display by the Japanese, India struck in the 41st minute, thanks to another brilliant effort by Diwakar. It came after Mandeep had dribbled his way into the striking zone and forced the Japan custodian Sekizawa Hiroyuki into committing a foul. The resultant penalty corner was converted by Diwakar.

With Innocent Kullu and Amardeep Ekka manning the defence well, India ensured that there were no dramatic comebacks from the Japanese.

Bansal admitted that he was not happy with the performance though he was pleased with the result. “I feel that it is always good to win a match despite not playing really well rather than losing after playing good hockey,” he said.

Nam Hyun Woo recorded the first hat-trick of the tournament while fashioning Korea’s impressive 8-0 win over Bangladesh in a Pool ‘B’ match.

The results:

Pool ‘A’: India 2 (Diwakar Ram 2) bt Japan 0. Malaysia 2 (Ahmad Kazamirul Nasruddin, Hang Edzharsyah Hang Tuah) drew with Singapore 2 (Mohd. Farzi Mohd Jailani, Cher Shao Jie Benjamin).

Pool ‘B’: Pakistan 5 (Qasim Al Shibli 4, Basim Rajab) bt Oman 1 (Syed Adeel Hussain). Korea 8 (Nam Hyun Woo 3, Lim Woo Geun 2, Seo Jun Su, Lee Dong Hyun, Bae Jong Suk) bt Bangladesh 0.

Saturday’s matches: Singapore vs Japan (3.30 p.m.); India vs Malaysia (5.30 p.m.).

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