FIH Road to London 2012: India register 4th win on trot

Abhishek Manroa February 23, 2012 0

FIH Road to London 2012: India register 4th win on trot

NEW DELHI (The Sports Encounter), February 22, 2012: India continued their good run in the FIH Road to London 2012 hockey tournament in the national capital on Wednesday when they defeated Canada by 3-2 in a thrilling encounter.

With this victory, India kept their hopes alive for participation in the London 2012 Olympics as they now top the standings with four victories.

In other matches, Poland routed Singapore by 11-3 while France had to grind their way into the Italian defence line to eventually beat them 3-0.

Poland exhibited their strength against paltry Singapore as they were leading the weaker side in the tournament by 3-0 at halftime but they effected misery upon their opponents in the second half where they notched eight more goals.

Szymon Oszyjcczyk hit the opening goal in the 9^th minute and then Polish players had to struggle for the next 15 minutes for another goal when Michal Nowakowski doubled the lead.

Miroslaw Juszczak hit the third goal through a penalty corner in the final moments of the first half but second half started with some surprises by Singaporean players when Mohamad Farhan Kamsani made full use of the over-confident Polish defence to reduce the deficit.

Singapore soon scored another goal but it backfired in a way that suddenly Polish strikers woke up from their day-dreaming and started pouring in a rally of goals which only stopped with the final whistle.

Waldemar Rataj was declared Player of the Match for his brilliance in the field.

In the other game, India came into their match against Canada on a strong three-match winning streak (against Italy, Singapore, and France) while Candians were in a must-win situation which added spice to the curry in New Delhi.

In front of the hi-fiving crowd, India made some early moves where they managed to secure a penalty corner but Antoni Kindler proved a wall safeguarding the Canadian goal and cleared it to safety.

As the match progressed, Canadian players started finding their confidence and momentum which helped them in upping the pressure on India but it was the home side who took lead when Shivendra Singh snatched a ball from Canadian defender and forced it into the net.

India maintained their slim lead going into the halftime as Canada started looking for the player who could break the stalemate.

However, it was India that kept the pressure after the halftime as Antoni Kindler remained busy during the initial part of the period and soon Sandeep Singh flicked through a penalty corner to score second goal for the hosts.

Canada intensified their push for a goal and Mark Pearson stepped up his game to provide his team the crucial opening before Scott Tupper squared the affair.

As the match entered in its final 10 minutes, emotions took over the proceedings as players from both sides exchanged few words while body play was more visible and only when it was set for an exciting finish, a controversial penalty corner was awarded to India where Sandeep Singh made no mistake to almost put an end to Canadian efforts in the tournament as they will have to play exceptionally well to stay alive in the competition.

In the last match of the day, France overpowered resilient Italian defenders to notch up a 3-0 victory, their third victory in the tournament.

The victory has helped France stay in a good position to qualify for the Sunday’s final.