Hockey tean in final

Bangkok, Dec 17: The Bhangra dance began even as the match started and one is sure it will continue late in the night celebrating India's...

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Bangkok, Dec 17: The Bhangra dance began even as the match started and one is sure it will continue late in the night celebrating India’s 3-1 win against Japan which put them in their second consecutive final of the men’s hockey competition at the Asian Games, here on Thursday. In what would be a repeat clash of the 1994 Hiroshima Asiad, India will meet Korea who earlier overcame Pakistan 3-2, the margin hardly indicating the winners’ dominance.

It must be said that the Indians made a rather heavy weather of a challenge which was good only in patches. Eventually, it was not so much about how well India played as how badly did the Japanese perform. Sure enough, the Indians dominated the game, but their tractical play left a lot to be desired especially inside the rival 25-yard area where the forwards repeatedly bungled.

And worse still, India almost squandered their advantage by getting rather defensive as they had done against the Koreans in the league two days back. But fortunately for them, the Japanesewere far worse at the finish and, in the end, had very little to show for their efforts.

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It took all of 18 minutes and a couple of missed chances before the Indians moved in the front when Baljit Singh Dhillon found the net with his flick-push for an indirect penalty corner conversion after skipper Dhanraj Pillay had passed to him. Past the 27th, Ramandeep Singh came good with a penalty stroke which followed an obstruction on Pillay by the Japanese goalkeeper. Pillay, on receiving a long ball from Dilip Tirkey, tried to swerve past the goalkeeper who, in his anxiety, checked the forward.

On change of ends, the Indians tended to backpedal at the first sign of danger and the Japanese received more space to make some moves one of which led to a penalty corner which Kenichi Katayama converted off a pass from Shuji Fukasawa, in the seventh minute.

From then on, India worked up a good pace but they got it all wrong at the finish where Pillay and Mukesh were found wanting in passing to better-placed colleaguesor directing their shots to goal. However, Pillay delighted the crowd in the 15th minute with a superb reverse hit shot from a two-touch move that had Tirkey finding him inside the circle with a lovely hit across the length of the ground. Pillay, in a flash, turned past his maker Atsushi Takehara and let fly a reverse hit screaming to the net.

Pak disappoint: Pakistan looked like a club side pitted against a world-class outfit that had everything going for it. Though the score-line may suggest a close contest, the Koreans were far superior and, at times, as in the second-half, literally toyed with Pakistan who were sorely missing a stalwart centre-half, a playmaker like Shahbaz Ahmed and a striker in the mould of Kamran Ashraf.

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The Koreans enjoyed a lot of space to begin with and they made full use of it. But first, they had to counter the early Pakistani attacks which led to a fifth penalty corner that Abbas converted with aplomb. Thereafter, it wa almost a one-way street with the Koreansdictating the pace and the exchanges.

The Korean strength lay in the way they moved the ball around and there was little advance notice of their intention to attack. The transfer of the ball was so quick and decisive that the Pakistani defence had little time to take up positions.