India to meet Pak in Jr Asia Cup semis

Hyderabad, July 14: India squandered penalty corners galore but still pumped in three goals in each half to blank Singapore 6-0 and set up a semifinal clash with arch-rivals Pakistan in the 6th Junior Asia Cup hockey tournament here on Monday.Drag-flicker Diwakar Ram (31st,64th,67th minutes) struck three goals alone, while Roshan Minz (25th), SV Sunil (26th) and Gurwinder Singh Chandi (61st) too sounded the board.

In a Pool B match, Pakistan came back from a halfway 1-2 deficit to thrash Bangladesh 8-2 and finish second in the group which pitted them against defending champions India in the semifinals. With today`s resounding win, India topped Pool A, while South Korea led Pool B after crushing Oman 11-0. Japan beat Malaysia 3-1 today and they will meet Korea in the other semifinal on Wednesday. Though India did not break a sweat against lowly Singapore, their poor penalty corner conversion would remain a woe for coach AK Bansal. The hosts got as many as 13 penalty corners but could convert only three. After two penalty corners went abegging and Singapore`s goalkeeper Maheshwaran Thanagopal came up with some stunning saves, India finally opened the account through Roshan Minz`s 25th minute goal and in the next minute, it was Sunil`s turn to get into the scorer`s sheet. Bureau Report