Sports India

Kuala Lumpur, June 23: India’s hopes of making it to the finals went up in smoke as they lost to Holland by a solitary second-half goal today while defending champions Australia whipped New Zealand 7-1 to set up a title clash with the Dutch in the Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament, here.

The final is slated for Sunday and before that India will take on New Zealand in the bronze medal play-off.

In two contrasting outings, the Indians played their heart out but faltered at crucial moments before bowing to Holland while Australia made mincemeat of their neighbours, reducing the second semi-final virtually to a no-contest.

In the first semi-final, it was Roderick Weusthof’s 64th minute strike which dashed India’s hopes of making it to their fourth Azlan Shah final.

The match-winner came when Weusthof converted the team’s second penalty corner. For the Dutch, it was their first penalty corner conversion in the tournament. Playing with a three-pronged attack didn’t give India too many chances against a solid Dutch defence.

It was the Dutch who made the initial moves in the seventh and 10th minutes. The first real chance, however, came India’s way but Gagan Ajit Singh, who had positioned himself well, miscued the reverse shot.

Later, even Arjun Halappa and Rajpal Singh had a few sharp chances but the shots were not powerful enough to trouble the Dutch defence.

Pushing constantly, Holland earned their first penalty corner in the 23rd minute but the shot went abegging. India survived another scare when custodian Adrian D’Souza was stretched full in the 34th minute when Teun de Nooijer’s shot was well taken on the pads. At the break, both the teams were goalless.

A minute into the second half, Tushar Khandekar sped in and created a chance but the shot went past the post without any Indian forward filling in the gap.

India, finally, earned their only penalty corner of the match in the 42nd minute but Dilip Tirkey hit wide off the post.

It was clear that India were not getting into a rhythm. The midfield was defensive and wasn’t moving fluently to play in tandem with the forwards.

Kuala Lumpur, June 23: India’s hopes of making it to the finals went up in smoke as they lost to Holland by a solitary second-half goal today while defending champions Australia whipped New Zealand 7-1 to set up a title clash with the Dutch in the Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament, here.

The final is slated for Sunday and before that India will take on New Zealand in the bronze medal play-off.

In two contrasting outings, the Indians played their heart out but faltered at crucial moments before bowing to Holland while Australia made mincemeat of their neighbours, reducing the second semi-final virtually to a no-contest.

In the first semi-final, it was Roderick Weusthof’s 64th minute strike which dashed India’s hopes of making it to their fourth Azlan Shah final.

The match-winner came when Weusthof converted the team’s second penalty corner. For the Dutch, it was their first penalty corner conversion in the tournament. Playing with a three-pronged attack didn’t give India too many chances against a solid Dutch defence.

It was the Dutch who made the initial moves in the seventh and 10th minutes. The first real chance, however, came India’s way but Gagan Ajit Singh, who had positioned himself well, miscued the reverse shot.

Later, even Arjun Halappa and Rajpal Singh had a few sharp chances but the shots were not powerful enough to trouble the Dutch defence.

Pushing constantly, Holland earned their first penalty corner in the 23rd minute but the shot went abegging. India survived another scare when custodian Adrian D’Souza was stretched full in the 34th minute when Teun de Nooijer’s shot was well taken on the pads. At the break, both the teams were goalless.

A minute into the second half, Tushar Khandekar sped in and created a chance but the shot went past the post without any Indian forward filling in the gap.

India, finally, earned their only penalty corner of the match in the 42nd minute but Dilip Tirkey hit wide off the post.

It was clear that India were not getting into a rhythm. The midfield was defensive and wasn’t moving fluently to play in tandem with the forwards