England push India out of knockout contention

New Delhi: India are out of the semifinal race after going down 2-3 to England in Pool B of the Hockey World Cup here Saturday.

India bounced back after conceding three goals, but an impressive England defence stood firm and the European Champions expectedly marched into the semifinals, winning all their four matches.

England scored through James Tindall in the 16th minute as he deflected in a cross from Nick Catlin. Ashley Jackson (42nd minute, 47th)) first converted a penalty corner soon on resumption and scored again to make it 3-0.

India rallied with goals from Gurwinder Singh Chandi (54th) and skipper Rajpal Singh (57th), but could not find the equaliser in the end, despite a couple of gilt-edged chances coming their way. It was the hosts' third straight loss, after the euphoric victory over Pakistan 4-1 in the first match. They went down to Australia, and Spain by an identical 2-5 in their next two games.

England's fairytale performance continued since their shock victory over Australia on the opening day.

England now top the pool with 12 points from four games while India are fourth on three points.

The English team continued to be India's nemesis as they had knocked them out of the Beijing Olympic qualifiers in 2008, the first time in 80 years that the eight-time Olympic gold medallists failed to make the quadrennial event.

Both teams muffed opportunities in the first half, but it was England who looked the better of the two to score.

England, who have an all-win record in the tournament so far, made some fine moves but fumbled in the goalmouth.

India, too, missed chances after getting to the top of the circle on several occasions. Shivendra Singh, back after serving a two-match suspension, was through on his own, but lost control of the ball as English goalkeeper James Fair charged out. India got two penalty corners but Sandeep Singh and Diwakar Ram failed with both.

England repeatedly penetrated the Indian defence and goalkeeper Adrian D'souza managed well to thwart some of the moves.

India made some swift counter-attacks but England defenders were equal to the task.

Iain Mackay was injured when Sandeep's stick inadvertantly found him, but he was back after medical attention.

England finally opened the scoring through Tindall who had another opportunity soon, but this time he failed to strike.

India would have lost by a bigger margin but for Adrian, who saved a well-directed flick by Ben Hawes in the second half and blocked England captain Barry Middleton's reverse hit from a fast counter-attack just before the final hooter.
Source: IANS