Sports India

Kuala Lumpur, June 25 (IANS) A determined India defeated New Zealand 3-2 to win the bronze in the 15th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament here Sunday.

Three-time champions India led 2-1 at half time.

Indian forward Hari Prasad was the star of the match as he scored the first two goals (ninth and 35th minutes). Defender Sandeep Singh scored the third, match-winning goal in the 43rd minute.

New Zealand, in fact, had shot into the lead through mid fielder Simon Child in the seventh minute. Hayden Shaw scored the second goal in the 39th, but India maintained the slender lead to emerge deserving winners at the Bukit Jalil Stadium.

Defending champions Australia play the formidable Netherlands in the final Sunday.

This is the first time in six years that India has finished on the podium in this annual tournament. Their other two bronze medals had come in 1983 and 2000.
India had won the Azlan Shah hockey title in 1985, 1991 and 1995.

Besides Hari Prasad, forwards Arjun Halappa, Tushar Khandekar and the hard working Shivender Singh, goalkeeper Adiran D’Souza and mid-fielder V.S. Vinaya also shone for India.

India, having the psychological advantage of having beaten New Zealand in both pre-tournament practice matches here, looked determined from the start.

They could have taken the lead as early as the sixth minute when Halappa sent the ball in the goal but umpire J.M. Jang disallowed it as he felt that the shot was taken from outside the ‘D’.

But television replays showed that the ball was right on the line when Halappa’s stick touched the ball.

Two minutes after that, New Zealand shot into the lead as Child, despite being surrounded by the defenders, masterfully took a turn with the ball and reverse flicked it between the legs of goal-keeper D’Souza and into the goal.

However, India equalised within a minute of that goal, through Hari Prasad. After receiving a pass from the right flank, Prasad shot the ball inside for a beautiful on-the-run goal.

India then made several forays into the rival area without rewards, though Hari Prasad again came close to scoring in the 19th minute. An agile Kiwi goal-keeper Kyle Pontifex, however, averted the danger.

It was now the turn of Pontifex’s Indian counterpart, D’Souza, to effect a fine save as he deflected to safety a Hugh Copland dangerous looking reverse flick.

Forward Gagan Ajit Singh also had a chance to score, but after receiving a pass from Shivender, failed to beat the goal keeper.

Most of the Indian attacks came from the right flank, with Hari Prasad often darting down the line to feed his colleagues.

Hari Prasad got his, and India’s, second goal when he neatly deflected in a stinging Vikram Pillay hit from near the half line. Having placed himself superbly inside the striking circle, he steered the ball high beyond Pontifex’s reach.

Soon after the start of the second half, New Zealand equalised through Hayden Shaw, but specialist Sandeep Singh converted the third penalty corner to give India a goal that turned out to be the match winner.

After the two goals early in this half, New Zealand tried hard to draw parity again, but a solid Indian defence, led by captain Dilip Tirkey, held them at bay.