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| October 11, 2002 | Friday | Sha'aban 4, 1423 |
India meet S. Korea in final after edging out Pakistan
South Korea 2 Malaysia 0
BUSAN, Oct 10: India scored a dramatic 4-3 victory over arch-rivals Pakistan here Thursday in an ill-tempered Asian Games hockey semifinal which saw one player sent off and several players cautioned.The hero for India was star striker Dhanraj Pillay, who scored twice and set up the winner in a dramatic finale that saw Pakistan have a shot scrambled off the Indian line as they pressed for an equaliser.
The red card incident came 22 minutes from time, when Mohammad Nadeem was sent off for repeatedly hacking at an opponent with his stick.
Afterwards Pakistan coach Tahir Zaman said the sending off and the goal-line clearance had robbed his team of victory.
It was only India’s second win ever over Pakistan at the Asian Games, the previous one coming way back in 1966. Pakistan have won on seven occasions while two matches have been drawn.
Indian coach Rajinder Singh admitted he had been sweating up to the last, mindful of Pakistan’s recent comeback victory over India at the Champions Trophy in Cologne.
“We have utmost respect for Pakistan as a team and one can’t take it easy till a match between these two teams is over. We saw that at Cologne, but we’ve extracted revenge for that loss today,” he said.
“I thought it was a total team effort.”
Sub-continental flair for stickwork was on display throughout at the Gangseo Stadium with veterans Pillay of India and Sohail Abbas of Pakistan knocking sparkling in attack with two goals each.
Pillay scored two superb field goals and Abbas converted two penalty-corners to show why they are such feared players the world over.
The brace each by the two players took the score to 2-2 at half-time, after which Daljit Singh and Gagan Ajit Singh scored for India while Mohammad Shabbir got Pakistan’s third goal.
For India, who had lost to Pakistan 4-3 despite leading 3-1 in the bronze medal match at the recent Champions Trophy at Cologne, the fears of another such comeback by Pakistan loomed larged.
Pakistan restored parity each time India scored. Though India kept ball possession for a major part of the match, the Pakistanis looked as dangerous in attack as the Indians.
India did combine well, but Pillay played a big role in India’s win, setting up the deciding goal for Gagan Ajit apart from his own goals.
Earlier, South Korea kept in line for their third Asian Games title in a comfortable 2-0 win over Malaysia.
Jeon Jong-Ha and Yeo Woon-Kon scored for hosts South Korea in a match that failed to rise to any great heights with the game being restricted more to the midfield in the goalless first session.
The hosts went ahead through Jeon in the 42nd minute when he flicked the ball in, in a melee following their sixth penalty-corner.
South Korea went 2-0 up when Yeo Woon-Kon converted their seventh penalty-corner in the 62nd minute.—AFP
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