Ipoh (Malaysia), March 27
Striker Mandeep Singh scored a brilliant hat-trick as India outplayed Canada 7-3 to seal a berth in the final of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament here today.
South Korea beat hosts Malaysia 2-1 to set up the summit clash with India on Saturday.
India, who had beaten Canada 5-1 in the group stage at the 2018 World Cup, made an attacking start. In the 12th minute, drag-flicker Varun Kumar converted a penalty corner, getting his third goal of the tournament.
The 24-year-old Mandeep scored three quick field goals (20th, 27th and 29th minutes) to take his tally to five goals in the tournament. He leads the goal-scorers’ chart alongside Malaysia Faizal Saari.
Canada reduced the margin through a strike from Mark Pearson in the 35th minute. Amit Rohidas (39th), Vivek Prasad (55th) and Nilakanta Sharma (58th) struck to take the game beyond the reach of Canada who scored two late consolation goals through Fin Boothroyd (50th) and James Wallace (57th).
India and South Korea, the two unbeaten sides in the tournament, now have 10 points each from four matches. In their final pool matches, India play Poland while South Korea take on Japan on Friday. India have showed progress match-by-match in the tournament. After a patchy 2-0 win over reigning Asian Games champions and a 1-1 draw with South Korea, India beat Malaysia 4-2 before hammering Canada.
Indian team manager Chris Ciriello was happy with the performance but felt that they could have done more in the later stages of the match.
“We go into every match wanting to win, and against Canada, we had the early advantage with the 4-0 lead. The penalty corner conversion could have been better, but the field attempts make up for it,” Ciriello said. — PTI
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