Another London heartbreak

London, June 22 

India crashed out of the Hockey World League Semifinal after suffering a shocking 3-2 defeat at the hands of Malaysia in the quarterfinals here today.

It was hard-fought encounter as both the teams played with great intensity. The Indians only had themselves to blame as a below-par opening 20 minutes and some sloppy defending ruined their hopes. India conceded as many as seven penalty corners, three of which were converted by Malaysia through Razie Rahim (19th, 48th minutes) and Tengku Tajuddin (20th). India’s goals came from the stick of Ramandeep Singh (24th, 26th).

By virtue of this win, Malaysia have qualified for next year’s World Cup to be held in India.

For India, it is their second defeat against Malaysia in little less than two months. Roelant Oltmans’ men had earlier lost 1-0 to the same opponents in the Azlan Shah Cup last month.

Malaysia will face reigning Olympics champions and world No. 1 Argentina in Saturday’s semifinal.

Ranked sixth in the world, the Indians started as overwhelming favourites against 14th placed Malaysia but the script did not unveil as expected at least in the first 23 minutes.

The Indians were yet again slow to get off the blocks and looked scrappy. Malaysia, on the other hand, were compact in their defensive structure initially and also troubled India’s backline. Malaysia pressed hard early on and secured two penalty corners but wasted both the chances. The first quarter ended goalless with Malaysia controlling the proceedings.

Malaysia continued their attacking game and got a great opportunity to break the deadlock in the 17h minute when a scoop from the deep found Nabil Noor alone inside the Indian circle but an alert goalkeeper Vikas Dahiya came off his line to deny Noor. Two minutes later, Malaysia earned another penalty corner but this time Dahiya failed to keep Rahim’s flick out as the ball went in after hitting his body.

A minute later, Malaysia doubled their lead against the run of play as Tajuddin neatly deflected in from their fourth penalty corner.

Down by two goals, it was time for India to bounce back strongly into the game and they did exactly that and levelled the scores with two goals in a span of two minutes.

Ramandeep scored from literally India’s first shot at the goal, deflecting in Sumit’s defence-splitting cross from the left flank.

Two minutes later, Ramandeep once again found himself at the right place at the right time and scored the equaliser after skipper Manpreet Singh messed up a variation effort from India’s first penalty corner.

Argentina oust Pakistan

Earlier, Argentina patiently broke down a tight Pakistan defence to win 3-1 and enter the semifinals. — PTI