Ipoh (Malaysia), Nov 29 In a high-scoring encounter, the Indian senior men's hockey team outclassed Canada 14-3 to top the pool standings and make the final of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup here on Saturday.
Having lost only to Belgium by a goal earlier in the tournament, India were upbeat after a sensational 3-2 win against New Zealand in their previous game. The match began with an early goal by Nilakanta Sharma in the fourth minute, followed by a 10th-minute goal by Rajinder Singh, who has been in good nick since his debut in the senior side. It was a thrilling start to the game with Canada responding to the early goals by creating PCs and even converting from them. In the 11th minute, almost as soon as Rajinder's goal, Brendan Guraliuk converted a fine PC. Two more goals were scored in the following minutes through Jugraj Singh and Amit Rohidas in the 12th and 15th minutes, respectively.
This 4-1 lead put India in good stead to build on their performance in the second quarter. With senior stars in the team rested for this tournament, the onus to outshine was on a younger lot, and they did well to hold off pressure from Canadian defence. A flurry of goals continued in the quarter with Rajinder scoring in the 24th minute, Dilpreet Singh in the 25th minute, and Jugraj scoring his second goal in the 26th minute.
Ahead 7-1, India were unstoppable, but Canada came into the third quarter with slight changes to their attack, which led to a penalty stroke in the 35th minute. Matthew Sarmento made no mistake in pumping this one into the post to take the score line to 7-2, still favouring India. Meanwhile, Jugraj scored his hat-trick in when he struck in the 39th minute, and Selvam Karthi scored in the 43rd minute to extend India's lead to a massive 9-2.
The final quarter was just a formality, but this is where maximum goals came by with both teams upping the ante. Six goals were scored in the quarter. It all began with Amit Rohidas's PC in the 46th minute, followed by Jugraj's penalty stroke conversion in the 50th minute. Both teams continued to trade PCs, and Canada ended up scoring from it too, with Jyothswaroop Sidhu's goal taking the score line to 3-11. Sanjay put his name on the scoresheet with his goal in the 56th minute from a penalty stroke, while Abhishek scored a double in the 57th and 59th minutes to end the proceedings on a high, winning 14-3.
India will take on Belgium in the final on Sunday.
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