Sports India

It was an emotional moment for 123 sportspersons from Punjab here Saturday when they were conferred with the Maharaja Ranjit Singh sports awards.

The awards had assumed significance as they were being revived after 10 years.

The awards, which started in 1978, had been abolished in 1996 by the then Punjab government citing financial constraints. The award carries a cash reward of Rs.100,000.

Chief Minister Amarinder Singh gave away the awards to those who excelled in various events between 1997 and 2004.

Punjab’s sports director and former Indian hockey captain and Olympian Pargat Singh was among those conferred the awards.

Several other sports stars failed to turn up for the function as they were participating in major events or were playing outside the country. Fourteen such players were honoured in absentia.

These included cricketers Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Reetinder Singh Sodhi and Dinesh Mongia, hockey Olympian Gagan Ajit Singh and shooter Manavjit Singh Sandhu.

The highest number of awards went to athletes (22) followed by wrestling (16) and hockey (15). Four cricketers made it to the list.

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 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.

KUALA LUMPUR, Jun 25: India achieved the pre-competition target of a podium finish and there was a settled look about the team – this is how coach Vasudevan Baskaran summed up his side’s performance in the 15th Sultan Azlan Shah eight-nation hockey tournament here today.

“We had set out to finish among the top three, and I am happy that we achieved it. Of course, there are a few grey areas that we need to work on, but overall, the Indian team is shaping up well ahead of the World Cup in September,” the coach said after India beat New Zealand 3-2 in the playoff for the third place.

He conceded that a better finish would have fetched a more comfortable victory for the Indians.

“We made some silly mistakes at the finish and wasted a lot of chances. I feel we should have scored at least three to four goals in the first-half and a couple more in the second,” he said.

While reviewing the team’s overall showing in the tournament, Baskaran praised goalkeeper Adrian D’Souza.

“I am extremely happy that Adrian has rediscovered his form and looks much more assured than at any time in the past. Today, he was just brilliant and made quite a few saves,” Baskaran said.

“This tournament was a learning process for all of us. We now have time to rectify our mistakes and improve before the World Cup. May be, a few exposure-cum-training tours will benefit the team,” he added.

Asked about the indifferent form of striker Gagan Ajit Singh, the coach defended the forward saying: “I do agree that he is not in the best form, but then I reckon he is still a dangerous player and if he works on his fitness, I feel he will be back in top form for the World Cup.”

Incidentally, Baskaran was the coach of the Indian team that finished third in this tournament in 2000.

Kuala Lumpur: It’s not a tale that needs to be told with a touch of anguish. India’s 0-1 reverse against the former World and Olympic champion, the Netherlands in the semifinals of the Azlan Shah hockey tournament provided a few positives.

Important among them were the consistency of effort in the defence and a good level of goalkeeping by Adrian D’Souza. On the negative side was the lacklustre work by the frontline.

In the other semifinal, Olympic champion Australia walloped New Zealand 7-1 after leading 3-0 at half-time.

Australia meets the Netherlands in the final on Sunday, while India and New Zealand are set to fight for the third place.

That India courted defeat seven minutes before the hooter, off a penalty corner shot by Roderick Weusthof, mirrors the closeness of the contest. The Dutch coach, Roelant Oltmans, referred to the outcome as being reflective of the strategy planned — not to engage in full scale attack but keep control of the match against the unpredictable Indian attack.

Solid defence

A close scrutiny of tie clearly reveals that the Indian defence was solid throughout, giving little space for the usually ebullient Dutch attack headed by Teun Di Nooijer.

The emphasis to keep the rival frontline at bay even went to the point of chief coach Baskaran fielding all the three deep defenders, Tirkey, Kanwalpreet and Sandeep, to support the tiring mid-field.

Vinay and Vikram Pillay stood out in the mid-field as did Viren Resquinha. Halappa worked hard as the linkman. A word of praise to D’Souza cannot be termed an exaggeration. Both the saves he effected — the first from Robert Horst and then from di Nooijer — bore a stamp of class.

It was in fashioning a consistent attack that India came a cropper. Tejbir Singh, on whom the frontline had revolved so far, was bottled up by Floris Evers. Hari Prasad, Shivendra and Tushar flashed only in patches. Even the seasoned Gagan Ajit Singh was wayward.

A tight midfield, led commendably by Jerome Delmee, with Derickx as an able ally ensured the Dutch never slackened a wee bit and allow the Indian attack gain any advantage.

In the frontline again it was the experience of di Nooijer that was quite transparent. In fact, it was his run that ended in the match-winning penalty corner. The Dutch had three penalty corners as against the one by India.

It was Australia all the way in the other semifinal. Underscoring its stature as Olympic champion, the Aussies puzzled the Kiwis from the start. After Grant Schubert scored off a cross from Travis Brookes, the Aussies enlarged the margin with two penalty corner goals by Luke Doerner and lead 3-0 at half-time. Thereafter, it was just marking the names of the Aussie scorers as the hapless Kiwi defence was left in a trance.

The results (semifinals): Netherlands 1 (Roderick Weusthof) bt India 0; Australia 7 (Grant Schubert 2, Luke Doerner 2, Matt Nylor, Travis Brookes, Dean Butler) bt New Zealand 1 (Richard Patherick) HT 3-0.

Saturday’s matches: 7-8 positions: Argentina v Malaysia (5 a.m.); 5-6: Pakistan v Korea (7 a.m.)

KUALA LUMPUR: A late penalty corner goal gave the Netherlands a 1-0 victory over India Friday and set them up for a showdown against Australia in the finals of the 15th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup.

The Australians, ranked number one in the world, played one of their best matches in the tournament to defeat New Zealand 6-0 in the other semi-finals at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil here. Sunday’s finals will be the first time the Dutch and the Australians have met since the 2005 Champions trophy in Chennai when the Olympic Champions walked off with a 3-1 win.

The India-Netherlands match was a cautious affair as both teams defended well and the attacks were few and far between. India had the better chances at goal in the first half but forwards Gagan Ajit Singh, Shivender Singh and Rqajpal Singh missed some good opportunities to score. And in the second half Nhari Prasad and Tushar Khandjar missed their opportunities in front of the goal.

In contrast the Dutch had trouble getting good chances and it was their ability to win three penalty corners later in the match that did the trick. The goal came in the 64th minute off their second penalty corner. It was taken by Roderick Weusthof and his direct flick had goalkeeper Adrian De Souza well beaten. The Dutch had another penalty corner a minute later but that went wide. The Indians despite having better control of the match failed to capitalise on it and in the end were bundled out of the final.

Netherlands coach Roelant Altmans said they had no choice but to play defensively since they had played a game the day before and were a little tired. “We knew that India will be a handful and they are playing much better in this tournament. For me the objective was to see that my players played to the structure and improved with each game. “I am extremely pleased that we finally managed to score a goal from the penalty corner after three matches. It did not come from our top flicker (Taeke Taekema) but the second striker. That was good and it was a well taken flick.

“So the win is a pleasant surprise considering we started off badly in the tournament,” he said. India coach V Bhaskaran lamented the missed chances. “I think I have said it many times that teams who dominate a match must translate that in to a win. That was our story yesterday. We have good chances and in the second half control of the match. But one silly mistake gave away the goal and that was the end.

“We must learn from it and improve. These are not new things but the players must know when to attack and when to hold back. These are crucial aspects of a game.”

In the second semi-finals the Australians were in no mood to be charitable as they whipped the Kiwis with some well taken goals. In the first half they raced to a 3-0 lead by the 22nd minute. Grant Schubert scored in the seventh minute and Luke Doerner scored from the penalty corner set piece move in the 21st and 22nd minutes. Two minutes into the second half Matt Naylor was on target with a field goal and Schubert added his second in the 49th minute.

KUALA LUMPUR: Reigning Olympic champions Australia set up a final showdown tomorrow with Holland in the 15th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup with a slim win over India yesterday.

The Dutch had to slog for their 1-0 win while defending champions Australia whipped New Zealand 7-1 in the semi-finals at the National Hockey Stadium yesterday.

Tomorrow’s final will be a repeat of their final encounter in the 2005 Champions Trophy in Chennai in December. Then, the Aussies won 3-1.

Going by yesterday’s performance, Australia will start as favourites to win their third consecutive title.

New Zealand, the only unbeaten team before yesterday’s semi-final, was a pale shadow of the form they had showed earlier.

Given their lacklustre display, it was no surprise to see the Aussies take a 3-0 lead by the 22nd minute. Grant Schubert started the scoring in the seventh minute followed by Luke Doerner’s goals in the 21st and 22nd minutes.

Mat Naylor made it 4-0 for the Aussies just two minutes into the second half with a field goal.

Schubert, Travis Brooks and Dean Butler were on target in the 49th, 56th and 60th minutes respectively to make it 6-0 before the Kiwis reduced the deficit in the 69th minute through a penalty corner goal by Richard Petherick.

New Zealand team manager Peter Miskimmin said the absence of their skipper Ryan Archibald affected their midfield drastically.

“It is always difficult to play when your world class players is injured. We also had another player (Brad Shaw) out due to flu. So there was a bit of reshuffle which affected us badly. Australia played well and were much better than us. We have learned a lot from this outing,” said Miskimmin.

The Holland-India match saw both sides exercising caution with play confined to midfield.

India had more goal scoring opportunities but Gagan Ajit Singh, Tushar Khandhar, Shivender Singh and Rajpal Singh muffed their finishings.

India had only one penalty corner while Holland had two and they converted the second in the 64th minute when Roderick Weusthof flicked directly into goal.

The Dutch coach Roelant Altmans was happy with the win and was especially elated at having scored their first penalty corner in the tournament.

“That goal was our first from a penalty corner. We had to be defensive in our approach as the Indians were playing well in the tournament.

“We were wary of playing an open game.

“We are now looking to the final against Australia which we hope to win to cap a fine run in this tournament,” said Altmans.

KUALA LUMPUR: Reigning Olympic champions Australia set up a final showdown tomorrow with Holland in the 15th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup with a slim win over India yesterday.

The Dutch had to slog for their 1-0 win while defending champions Australia whipped New Zealand 7-1 in the semi-finals at the National Hockey Stadium yesterday.

Tomorrow’s final will be a repeat of their final encounter in the 2005 Champions Trophy in Chennai in December. Then, the Aussies won 3-1.

Going by yesterday’s performance, Australia will start as favourites to win their third consecutive title.

New Zealand, the only unbeaten team before yesterday’s semi-final, was a pale shadow of the form they had showed earlier.

Given their lacklustre display, it was no surprise to see the Aussies take a 3-0 lead by the 22nd minute. Grant Schubert started the scoring in the seventh minute followed by Luke Doerner’s goals in the 21st and 22nd minutes.

Mat Naylor made it 4-0 for the Aussies just two minutes into the second half with a field goal.

Schubert, Travis Brooks and Dean Butler were on target in the 49th, 56th and 60th minutes respectively to make it 6-0 before the Kiwis reduced the deficit in the 69th minute through a penalty corner goal by Richard Petherick.

New Zealand team manager Peter Miskimmin said the absence of their skipper Ryan Archibald affected their midfield drastically.

“It is always difficult to play when your world class players is injured. We also had another player (Brad Shaw) out due to flu. So there was a bit of reshuffle which affected us badly. Australia played well and were much better than us. We have learned a lot from this outing,” said Miskimmin.

The Holland-India match saw both sides exercising caution with play confined to midfield.

India had more goal scoring opportunities but Gagan Ajit Singh, Tushar Khandhar, Shivender Singh and Rajpal Singh muffed their finishings.

India had only one penalty corner while Holland had two and they converted the second in the 64th minute when Roderick Weusthof flicked directly into goal.

The Dutch coach Roelant Altmans was happy with the win and was especially elated at having scored their first penalty corner in the tournament.

“That goal was our first from a penalty corner. We had to be defensive in our approach as the Indians were playing well in the tournament.

“We were wary of playing an open game.

“We are now looking to the final against Australia which we hope to win to cap a fine run in this tournament,” said Altmans.

KUALA LUMPUR: Reigning Olympic champions Australia set up a final showdown tomorrow with Holland in the 15th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup with a slim win over India yesterday.

The Dutch had to slog for their 1-0 win while defending champions Australia whipped New Zealand 7-1 in the semi-finals at the National Hockey Stadium yesterday.

Tomorrow’s final will be a repeat of their final encounter in the 2005 Champions Trophy in Chennai in December. Then, the Aussies won 3-1.

Going by yesterday’s performance, Australia will start as favourites to win their third consecutive title.

New Zealand, the only unbeaten team before yesterday’s semi-final, was a pale shadow of the form they had showed earlier.

Given their lacklustre display, it was no surprise to see the Aussies take a 3-0 lead by the 22nd minute. Grant Schubert started the scoring in the seventh minute followed by Luke Doerner’s goals in the 21st and 22nd minutes.

Mat Naylor made it 4-0 for the Aussies just two minutes into the second half with a field goal.

Schubert, Travis Brooks and Dean Butler were on target in the 49th, 56th and 60th minutes respectively to make it 6-0 before the Kiwis reduced the deficit in the 69th minute through a penalty corner goal by Richard Petherick.

New Zealand team manager Peter Miskimmin said the absence of their skipper Ryan Archibald affected their midfield drastically.

“It is always difficult to play when your world class players is injured. We also had another player (Brad Shaw) out due to flu. So there was a bit of reshuffle which affected us badly. Australia played well and were much better than us. We have learned a lot from this outing,” said Miskimmin.

The Holland-India match saw both sides exercising caution with play confined to midfield.

India had more goal scoring opportunities but Gagan Ajit Singh, Tushar Khandhar, Shivender Singh and Rajpal Singh muffed their finishings.

India had only one penalty corner while Holland had two and they converted the second in the 64th minute when Roderick Weusthof flicked directly into goal.

The Dutch coach Roelant Altmans was happy with the win and was especially elated at having scored their first penalty corner in the tournament.

“That goal was our first from a penalty corner. We had to be defensive in our approach as the Indians were playing well in the tournament.

“We were wary of playing an open game.

“We are now looking to the final against Australia which we hope to win to cap a fine run in this tournament,” said Altmans.

Having seen India in action from close quarters - in their 5-2 victory over my Malaysian team — I must say I was very impressed with their game on Monday. They created opportunities and took them very well, making better moves than us in the forward line.

This is not surprising since I have always maintained that India have the potential to be big winners; it is just that sometimes the players are unable to finish off the moves they make or assert their authority more on a match.

They had a lot of things going for them in their match against us, and we knew that they would be motivated to play better after their 1-4 loss to Australia on Sunday. Apart from that, we had a tough game on Sunday against South Korea and that took its toll on our young players. But I do not want to take anything away from the Indians. The finishing was much better than us, and players like Gagan Ajit Singh, Arjun Halappa, Tushar Khandhar, Shivender Singh and Tejbir Singh were moving well in unison, creating spaces. There are still some areas where they need to improve, especially in passing the ball inside the D. They also did not use the extra space along the flanks as well as they might have liked to.

For us, India’s show after their big defeat to Australia should serve as inspiration. However, I’m sure they can only get better. I can see that coach V Baskaran has got them to take shots at the goal and also to get the ball quickly into the D, and this caused us a lot of troubles.

But the fitness of the Indian team is suspect, and they will have to build up on that aspect for the World Cup. Players from teams like South Korea run throughout the game and always cause big threats to you, even when you are playing your best. Another good aspect of the Indian team was that the midfield players — with VS Vinay, Vikram Pillay and Prabodh Tirkey — worked very hard to stamp their mark. However, Vinay, Pillay and Tirkey must get more consistent with their play and endeavour to keep on pushing further up so that the forwards are well complemented. That managed to do that today, and it is good to see the team taking a much forward approach in their play.

We were let down in some ways by our defence, which did not get through to the passes quickly enough. As I said the other day, speed is essential when you want to play attacking hockey. The quicker you get the ball out of the danger area, the better you can plan your moves. In this respect Dilip Tirkey was a steadying influence at the back and Kanwalpreet Singh gave good support to him.

And, of course, their goalkeeper Adrian D’Souza was a big asset. He has the knack of playing well against Malaysia — he stopped no less than five penalty corners attempts by us today.

I think we need to see India play with this confidence more often, and then they can only get better. I think India’s match against South Korea is going to be a closely fought affair. If India can withstand the attacks of the fitter Koreans and stop their fast play, they would have a good chance of winning. After all, a semi-final berth is at stake. Senior players like Gagan, Dilip, Vikram, Prabodh, Viren Rasquinha, Arjun and Kanwalpreet must take the lead against the Koreans.