India score over England

India registered their first victory in the Azlan Shah hockey tournament, beating England 2-1, at the National hockey stadium, in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur, on Wednesday.

A goal in each half by Daljit Singh Dhillon and Deepak Thakur saw the young Indian team emerge deserving winners after three successive defeats.

England, who suffered their third defeat after two draws, got their goal from a disputable penalty-stroke, awarded by Malaysian umpire Mohd Faithal Hj Hassan. Danny Hall converted from the spot.

In other matches, Pakistan, trailing 1-3, staged a grand recovery to beat Malaysia 4-3 for their third straight victory while South Korea routed Australia 3-0 in the concluding match of the day.

Like in their pervious matches, India attacked from the start and had England on the defensive. They should have been a goal up within the first five minutes, but Dilip Tirkey was unlucky to find his shot, from India's first penalty-cornerm, being stopped by England 'keeper Jimmy Lewis. Immediately after, the Indian forwards, spearheaded by Mukesh Kumar, broke through on two occasions but a packed defence prevented them from having a shy at goal.

Their efforts paid off in the 13th minute following a quick passing bout from midfield. Deepak Thakur advanced into the England half and switched the ball across to Baljit Singh Chandi, who, after beating a defender, essayed goalwards. Daljit Singh Dhillon, showing good reflexes, lunged out and deflected the ball home.

The Indians continued to hold sway with England relying mostly on counter attacks which were well taken care of the Indian defence.

But England came back strongly in the second half and even before Dilip Tirkey, Bikramjit Singh and Jugraj Singh could settle down in defence tested goalkeeper Devesh Chauhan. However, the young goalkeeper, who has had a reasonably good tournament, did well to thwart Mike Johnson.

There were more English raids as India appeared to look content with the single goal cushion and went on the defensive. Their midfield and defenders played more withdrawn, which allowed the English forwards room to splinter. It proved fatal as, 16 minutes into the second half, England restored parity from a controversial goal. Umpire Hassan surprisingly awarded a 'stroke' for an infringment just outside the circle. The Indians protested the decision, but to no avail as Danny Hall stepped up to the spot and converted.

The goal awoke India from their slumber. Deepak Thakur, Daljit Dhillon and Chandi, with some good dribbling, harried the English defence though the last-named was guilty of holding on to the ball too long. And they six minutes from time they scored what turned out to be the match-winner. Tirkey's hit from a penalty-corner was padded by the 'keeper, only for Thakur to capitalise on the rebound and tap home after his first attempt hit the post and came back.

India meet Korea in their last league match on Friday.

Pakistan scored three goals in a five-minute blitz to register their third straight 4-3 victory in the tournament, but only after going through several agonising moments after the Malaysians rattled up a 3-1 lead.

After losing their opening match 3-5 to Australia and then drawing with South Korea 2-2, the defending champions have gone from strength to strength since narrowly beating India.

And again it was Sohal Abbas who fashioned the victory. The penalty-corner specialist pulled Pakistan out of the dumps with a splendid hat-trick to keep their chances of making the final alive. It was he who put them ahead in the seventh minute, and then struck twice from penalty-corners eight minutes from the end as Pakistan levelled scores at 3-3. Atif Bashir clinched the issue for Pakistan four minutes from the hooter.

Malaysia had earlier come back from a goal in arrears to restore parity through a 23rd minute penalty-corner goal by Maninderjit SIngh and then took a two-goal lead, after a 1-1 first-half, through Kuhan, who scored from a penalty-corner in the 37th minute, and Gopinathan, from a field goal, in the 50th minute.

The victory took Pakistan's points tally to 10 points from five matches, the same as South Korea.

It was a thrashing Australia would like to forget soon. The South Koreans took just six minutes open their account, with Jong-hyun scoring a field goal. Five minutes later, Jong-hyun was on target again, slamming the ball past Australian goalkeeper Lachlan Dreher with a rasping hit. The Koreans completed the rout five minutes from time through Jung-Chul.

Complete Coverage: Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Tournament, 2001