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| June 4, 2003 | Wednesday | Rabi-us-Sani 3, 1424 |
Tough task ahead for Pakistan
SYDNEY, June 3: After a week of rivetting hockey, the teams renew their rivalry in the second leg of the three- nation invitational tournament which starts with a match between India and Australia here on Wednesday.
The match at Wollongong here would give India the perfect opportunity to avenge their two defeats against Australia in the previous leg of the tournament in Perth.
The Indians lost to Australia in a league match and then in the final where they conceded two goals in the last five minutes to lose the match from a winning position.
But India’s overall showing last week was commendable as they beat arch-rivals Pakistan and also Australia ‘A’ on account of some good performances.
India coach Rajinder Singh sounded optimistic about the challenge ahead when he said his team was ready to take on the mighty Australians, who are likely to make few changes to their side that played the Perth final on Sunday.
“I am expecting a major change in the Australian side, which I feel will be very different to the one we played against in Perth.”
But he was quick to add that the players were keen to perform well and continue experimenting here as this would be their last chance to finetune their skills before the Champions Trophy in Amsterdam in August.
“We played well throughout the tournament in Perth. We were unfortunate to lose the final but the team’s showing improved with each outing,” Rajinder Singh said.—PPI
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