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| September 4, 2002 | Wednesday | Jamadi-us-Saani25,1423 |
Netherlands dent Pakistan hopes of reaching final
Netherlands 3 Pakistan 1
COLOGNE, Sept 3: Pakistan’s hopes of reaching the final of the Champions Trophy hockey tournament were severely dented when they were beaten 3-1 by Olympic champions Netherlands Tuesday.
It was Pakistan’s second loss in three matches. They were beaten 3-2 by Germany in the opener before pulling an emphatic 4-1 victory over South Korea.
Pakistan now face India in a much-awaited game Wednesday and play a winless Australia in the last league match Friday.
Two controversial penalty corners awarded by German official Marcus Meyer in a space of two minutes in the first half left reeling 2-0 at halftime. Their penalty corner executioner Taeke Taekema made no mistake when he found the cage in the 33rd and 34th minutes with forceful pushes.
And though Pakistan played with some urgency and purpose in the second half, they failed to crack a disciplined Dutch defence.
Sohail Abbas’s two penalty pushes were saved by the Dutch goalkeeper, including one on the chin that certainly left a crack on his helmet. Five minutes before the hooter, the Dutch goalkeeper denied Pakistan skipper Mohammad Sarwar to convert a penalty stroke after Mohammad Saqlain was brought down infront of the goal post.
After the Olympic champions, who now have three wins from as many games, extended their advantage to 3-0 lead by scoring the third goal in the 42nd minute though Teun de Nooijer, Pakistan earned the consolation goal in the last minute when Mohammad Nadeem found the net from an indirect penalty corner.
India enjoyed an impressive victory when they defeated Australia 3-2.
India soaked up early pressure and then took the lead after 13 minutes when, from their first possession, Gagan Ajit Singh took a pass from Dhanraj Pillay and was adjudged by umpire David Leiper to have been impeded by Paul Gaudoin and awarded penalty stroke.
Jugraj Singh put the stroke into the right backboard to take his tally in the event to three goals.
Deepak Thakur scored India’s second goal from their second visit to Australia’s circle, finishing build up work by Pillay, Gagan and Prabhjot Singh to drive home from five metres after 17th minutes.
Australia finally got on the scoresheet after 19 minutes with a build-up along the left flank where Scott Webster took possession on the backline. Webster weaved through a weak Indian defence to hit past Chauhan from an acute angle.
Gagan converted India’s first penalty corner with a deflection in front of goalkeeper Leon Martin for the ball to fly into the top of the net in the 50th minute.
Jugraj was yellow carded with six minutes from the end for failing to retire from a free hit and Australia immediately capitalised when Dean Butler knocked in a loose ball from the left of the circle to take the score to 3-2.—Agencies
Tabulated under matches played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against and points.
Netherlands 3 2 1 0 12 5 7
Germany 2 2 0 0 6 4 6
India 3 1 1 1 8 8 4
Pakistan 3 1 0 2 7 7 3
South Korea 2 1 0 1 4 6 3
Australia 3 0 0 3 5 12 0
Today’s fixtures:
• Australia v South Korea (7.15p.m)
• Pakistan v India (9.45p.m)
All times in PST
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