Category: Hockey World League

by Abhishek Shukla

Indian Men’s Hockey team go down 2-3 to resilient Canada

London, 25 June 2017: The Indian Men’s Hockey team went down 2-3 to a resilient Canada who have booked their berth for the Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup Bhubaneswar 2018 by finishing 5th at the Hero Hockey World League Semi Final, London 2017 on Sunday. It was goals by Gordon Johnston (3’, 44’), Keegan Pereira (40’) and an incredible effort by goalkeeper Antonie Kindler that pushed India to the sixth spot in the tournament. Harmanpreet Singh was the lone goal scorer for India with PCs in 7th and 22nd minutes.
There was plenty of action in the first quarter with Canada taking the lead through a PC scored by Gordon Johnston in the 3rd minute. Johnston’s well-timed flick found the space between the post and India keeper Vikas Dahiya to take a 1-0 lead. Just four minutes later Harmanpreet Singh levelled the score with a fierce flick, slightly moving to the right before striking the ball low to the corner of the post. This was Harmanpreet’s fifth goal of the tournament. The next few minutes saw India win two more PCs but couldn’t quite make use of the chances. Only seconds before the final hooter, Akashdeep Singh set up Mandeep Singh with a beautiful pass but Mandeep’s diving effort didn’t make the post.
In the second quarter, India increased the tempo with an improvised attack. Their effort won them two back-to-back PCs but Canadian defenders were up to the task to deny a lead. Minutes later, Mandeep did well to find Scott Tupper’s feet in the circle to win India their fifth PC. This time Harmanpreet was right on target, picked up the ball beautifully after Sardar Singh’s near-perfect injection to fire the ball past Canadian keeper in the 22nd minute to give India a 2-1 lead. Though both team traded PCs in the next few minutes, neither could make it count. However, a brilliant opportunity came by when Akashdeep and Talwinder Singh worked in tandem, with a well-timed run into the circle and perfect interchange to convert a goal. But Talwinder’s shot was blocked away by the keeper Antonie Kindler.
Going into the third quarter with 19 circle penetrations, six PCs chances and better ball possession, India showed that they were the better team in the first half and had done well to recover from an early 0-1 setback. They hoped to keep up the momentum, and initially did so by denying Canada a shot on goal when they won a PC in the 32nd minute. Desperate defence from Canada saw them give away India their 7th PC of the match in the 35th minute. But Canadian goalkeeper Kindler came up with a brave save to deny Harmanpreet his third goal of the match. A turn-around in the match came in the 40th minute when Mark Pearson set up Keegan Pereira to score a brilliant goal to equalize 2-2. After missing a PC chance early on, Johnston scored a splendid field goal in the 44th minute to hand Canada a 3-2 lead. The hero of this quarter however was Kindler who came up with a spectacular save off the tip of his stick to deny Ramandeep Singh a goal that cost India greatly.
The final 15 minutes saw India make desperate attempts to make a come-back. Forward Sunil did well to win India a PC in the 47th minute when he found Johnston’s foot in the circle. But nothing came off the opportunity for India. In the 50th minute, Sunil set up Mandeep who used a reverse hit to smash the ball to the goal but Kindler was up to the task with an impressive save to deny India an equalizer. India pulled off their goalkeeper Akash Chikte in the final three minutes of the match, playing with an extra defender. Canadian keeper however stayed resilient in his defence to deny India any goal to end the match 3-2 in favour of Canada.
by Abhishek Shukla

Malaysia cause upset win; beat Indian Men’s Hockey Team 3-2

London, 22 June 2017: Malaysia came up with a brave performance to put India out of the podium finish at the Hero Hockey World League Semi Final, London 2017 with a 3-2 win here on Thursday. It was a double goal by Razie Rahim (19’ and 48’), Tengku Tajuddin (20’) that helped Malaysia win a semifinal berth and also qualify for the Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup Bhubaneswar 2018.

Though India were tipped as favourites to win, a stubborn Malaysian outfit kept India in the hunt the right from the beginning. While successful circle penetrations were not easy to come by for India, Malaysia surprised them with two goals in the first five minutes of the second quarter that dented India’s start. It was Razie Rahim who scored Malaysia’s first goal through a PC in the 19th minute flicking the ball to the right corner of the post. Tengku Tajuddin doubled Malaysia’s lead in the 20th minute with another splendid PC, choosing to fire the ball to the top corner giving no chance for Vikas Dahiya to stop it.

India however shook off the starting jitters with a better performance in the later part of the second quarter. They made better attempts on goal but India’s breakthrough came in the 24th minute when a well-thought through pass by midfielder Sumit set up the goal for forward Ramandeep Singh who stepped in front of Malaysian defender to nick the ball into the post. This spectacular goal narrowed India’s gap to 1-2.

Almost immediately Ramandeep Singh doubled his score in the 26th minute when he picked up a rebound off Chinglensana Singh’s shot on goal to fire the ball past Malaysian keeper Kumar Subramiam. It was originally a PC attempt when Harmanpreet Singh tried a variation where he pushed the ball to Manpreet Singh but India skipper could not make a strong connect. The ball was then picked up by Chinglensana and improvised by Ramandeep to ensure India levelled the score.

With the score board reading 2-2 at half-time, the third quarter began with India trying to keep up their momentum. Midfielder Sardar Singh helped India win a PC in the 35th minute, but the opportunity to take the lead when amiss with Harmanpreet Singh’s flick being well-defended. With a little less than two minutes to go for the third hooter, Manpreet set up forward Talwinder Singh for what could have been a brilliant goal. However, Talwinder’s strike was slightly wide with Mandeep having little chance to deflect the ball into the post.

With no goals scored in the third quarter, the final 15 minutes kept the spectators at the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Stadium on the edge of their seats.  Malaysia won a PC when Najmi Jazlan found defender Surender Kumar’s foot in the circle. But Razie Rahim’s flick was blocked away by India’s first runner with the umpire awarding another PC to Malaysia. India were unfortunate to lose their referral with Manpreet suggesting that the ball struck his hand and not his feet.

Rahim was ruthless with his dragflick pumping the ball behind India keeper Akash Chikte to take a 3-2 lead in the 48th minute. Malaysia keeper Subramiam came up with a brilliant save to deny Akashdeep Singh when he was set up by Chinglensana for a goal. It didn’t help India’s cause with Malaysia winning another PC in the 57th minute but Razie Rahim’s flick went far wide. Another chance went amiss for India when Ramandeep’s deflection going wide of the post ending the match in Malaysia’s favour.