Dhaka: Senior duo of Dharamvir Singh and
Varinderjeet Singh misfired in tie-breaker as India had to
content with a silver after going down to arch-rivals Pakistan
4-5 in a keenly contested hockey summit clash in 11th South
Asian Games here today.
The final match, which saw a pacy start at the Moulana
Bhashani Stadium, had to be stretched into the tie-breaker
after the stipulated time did not produce any result, with the
score levelled at 1-1.
During the tie-breaker, India struck thrice through V
Raghunath, Innoncent Kullu and Vikas Pillai, but two seniors
Dharamvir and Varinderjeet missed their chances as India's
hope for another gold dashed.
Pakistan struck through Wasif Siddique, Kashif Javid and
Tasawar Abbas, while in the fourth shot Zeeshan Ali missed.
In the crucial fifth shot, skipper Sabtain Raja held his
nerve and found the target to settle the issue.
Earlier, India took the first lead after seniormost pro
Raghunath converted a penalty corner in the sixth minute of
the match.
India dominated the first 35 minutes and went into the
break with the sole lead.
But after the changeover Pakistan equalised in the 45th
minute when Siddique scooped the ball nicely which found back
of the net. Locked 1-1 after the stipulated time, the teams played
out the 30 minutes extra time but the stalemate prevailed and
the match advanced into the tie-breaker.
The match also saw some tense moments.
With 12 minutes left for the break, both the teams got
involved in a scuffle when Amit Kumar Prabhakar hit a Pakistan
player as both the captains instead of bringing the situation
under control got into the fight.
Bangladesh Police had to interfere to bring the situation
under control as match officials sent off both the captains --
Sabtain and Ajitesh Roy of India -- as warning.
Prabhakar was suspended for six minutes.
India custodian Mrinal Chaubey thwarted two penalty
corners -- one in the second half followed by another in the
second part of the extra time -- as the match advanced into
tie-breaker with a 1-1 scoreline.
In another match, Bangladesh bounced back from one-goal
deficit to register a 2-1 win over Sri Lanka for the bronze
medal.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, February 07, 2010, 18:22