Kazakhstan trio thrown out of Games

THREE Kazakhstan players have been thrown out of the Asian Games women's field hockey tournament after they admitted representing Belarus in a World Cup qualifier.
Asian Games organisers have awarded four of the matches to Kazakhstan's opponents with a score of 5-0 while retaining South Korea's scoreline because of a bigger victory margin.
Technical delegate Mathavas Deavadas said in a statement Saturday that Alessya Pyotukh, Yulliya Mikheichik and Anastassiya Chsherbakova "admitted they represented Belarus" at the Russian city of Kazan in April.
Kazakhstan won 3-0 against Thailand, but lost to South Korea (10-3), Japan (4-1), China (3-0) and Malaysia (4-2).
Kazakhstan plays its last preliminary round match against India on Saturday.

India beat Pakistan 3-2

SANDEEP Singh scored two goals as India stormed into the Asian Games men’s hockey semi-finals with a 3-2 win over Pakistan Saturday, their fourth success over their arch-rivals this year.
The penalty corner specialist slammed one in each half and Dharamvir Singh chipped in with the third goal as India recorded their third consecutive win in group B after an action-packed encounter.
India have nine points ahead of Sunday’s last league match against Japan, who are level with Pakistan on six points each.
India beat Pakistan 4-1 at the World Cup in March, won 4-2 in the Azlan Shah tournament in Malaysia in May and hammered the rivals 7-4 at last month’s Commonwealth Games.
“Winning four times in a row does not matter, this is not a series,” said Indian captain Rajpal Singh. “What is more important for me is that we play well in every match.
“Our strategy was simple. We had to attack from the start and not give Pakistan too many penalty corners.” Pakistan’s lone penalty corner, which came in the 58th minute, did not succeed as Indian goalkeeper Bharat Chetri leaped in the air to deflect Sohail Abbas’ stinging drag flick.
Pakistan captain Zeeshan Ashraf blasted the umpiring, saying poor decisions throughout the match cost his team the match.
“The umpires made the difference,” he said. “We should have got at least three or four more penalty corners.
“I don’t think there is any difference between the two teams. It was a close game that could have gone either way.
“India also got only three scoring chances in the entire game, but they converted all.” Pakistan’s Dutch coach Michel van den Heuvel, who watched the match from the stands, argued with the umpires and technical officials after the final whistle.
Zeeshan denied Pakistan will protest, but wanted his team to recover quickly from the defeat and prepare for the rest of the tournament.
“The main thing is we are still in contention for the gold medal,” he said.
"We will bounce back.” The match, watched by some 1,000 fans at the small Aoti Hockey Centre, began on a rousing note as Sandeep put India ahead in the second minute and striker Rehan Butt drew level for Pakistan in the fourth.
India took a 2-1 lead by half-time as Dharamvir swooped on a pass from the centre to flick the ball past the rushing goalkeeper Salman Akbar in the 16th minute.
An error from Indian defender Dhananjay Mahadik, who failed to clear a loose ball, allowed veteran Shakeel Abbasi to net Pakistan’s equaliser eight minutes into the second session.
India earned their second penalty corner five minutes later and Sandeep once again executed a perfect flick to make it 3-2.
Pakistan, who won the last of their seven Asian Games gold medals in Beijing in 1990, have not bagged a major title since the World Cup triumph in Sydney in 1994.
They face Bangladesh on Sunday, needing a win to move into the semi-finals.

Standings as of Friday

Asian Games MEN

GROUP A

P W D L F A Pt
MALAYSIA 3 2 1 0 17 4 7
S KOREA 3 2 1 0 13 3 7
CHINA 3 2 0 1 10 3 6
OMAN 4 1 0 3 4 28 3
SINGAPORE 3 0 0 3 1 7 0

GROUP B

P W D L F A Pt
PAKISTAN 2 2 0 0 20 2 6
INDIA 2 2 0 0 16 0 6
JAPAN 2 1 0 1 5 9 3
BANGLADESH 3 1 0 2 8 15 3
HONG KONG 3 0 0 3 3 26 0

WOMEN

P W D L F A Pt
S KOREA 4 4 0 0 20 3 12
CHINA 4 4 0 0 25 1 12
JAPAN 4 3 0 1 12 6 9
INDIA 4 2 0 2 17 4 6
MALAYSIA 5 1 0 4 6 20 3
KAZAKHSTAN 5 1 0 4 9 21 3
THAILAND 4 0 0 4 0 34 0

Game for another rampage in China shop

By Ajitpal Singh

MALAYSIA have rarely beaten China at their own backyard but the national hockey players hope to ride on their near perfect form so far when they face the host in a crucial Group A match at the Aoti Stadium today.
A draw would be enough to secure one of the two semi-final spots but national coach Stephen van Huizen wants his boys to play for a win as a victory could secure them top spot in Group A.
Malaysia have beaten China twice in previous three meetings, recorded in last year’s World Cup Qualifiers in New Zealand and this year’s Azlan Shah Cup.
But in their last meeting, China won 2-0 in a Four-Nation tournament in Dalian in July.
“We will try our best to enter the semi-finals. I anticipate a tough match but my boys, after victories over Singapore and Oman and a draw with South Korea, are in a confident mood to get a good result,” said van Huizen yesterday.
“We cannot be wasteful as we need to kill-off China early as possible tomorrow (today). I am confident my boys will prevail.
If Malaysia wins a medal in Guangzhou, Stephen will be the first Malaysian coach to guide the national team to it in 20 years.
Australian-born coach Terry Walsh guided the team to a bronze medal in the 1990 Beijing edition and 12 years later, German-born Paul Lissek also led the team to another bronze in Busan.
Striker Azlan Misron, who is currently Malaysia’s top scorer with five goals, is also on a mission to pile up goals against China.
“China have often looked strong at home. We cannot take them lightly. As for me, my personal goal is to score as many goals against them and also create chances for my team-mates,” said the 27-year-old.
Meanwhile, China coach Zhuang Xiaodong said the Malaysian team have been very impressive with their strong defense and attack in the Asian Games.
“We watched them hold Korea to a 2-2 draw on Thursday and I have to admit that they are impressive. But we have studied their game comprehensively.
“I’ve told my men to play without pressure. We definitely need to up our performance to get the required result,” he added.
Malaysia and Korea have collected seven points each after three matches but the former lead the group with goal difference while China are third with six.
However, Korea are expected to top the group as they have an easy match against Singapore today.

China women continue march

By S Thyagarajan

THE defending champion prevailed over Japan by three goals to one, netting all in the first session.
Adept and athletic, the Chinese played with palpable ardour and fluency. The lithe Zhao Yudiao, recently voted as the FIH Women's Young Player of the Year recently, displayed her proficiency in no uncertain manner, netting two, each one a beauty in the real sense of the term.
With 12 points from four games, and two remaining against South Korea and India, the home team appears well ensconced to finish on top in the seven team round robin league.
India a posted a 13-0 victory over Thailand and enhanced the hopes of making a bid to finishing on the podium.
Six points and a generous goal difference place India in a happy position to fight at least for a bronze. Surinder Kaur was the top scorer with four goals for the Indian team.
It turned out to be a great day for Malaysia. While the women’s team registered its first victory in five matches, the men outplayed and outclassed Oman to the tune of 12 goals, giving away two in the match.
The victory has certainly improved Malaysian men team’s chances of making it to the semi-final. But there is an important hurdle in the match. Malaysia is scheduled to take the host, China, in the last match.
Holder South Korea cast away the mood of depression after sharing points with Malaysia and gained a convincing victory over China in Pool A.
The results
Women: India 13 (Chanchan, Saba Anjum, Subadra Pradhan 2, Surinder Kaur 4, Poonam Rani, Rani Ramphal 3, Joydeep Kaur) beat Thailand 0. HT-7-0
China 3 (Zhao Yudiao 2, Gao Linhua) beat Japan 1 (Ai Murakami) HT 3-0
Malaysia 4 (Sumantri Norazilin 3),Abdul Rahman Nadia) beat Kazakhstan 2 (Yuliya Mikhechik, Anastassiya Chsherbakova) HT 1-0.
Men:
Pool A: Malaysia 12 (Muhammad Jalil Marhar, Tnuku Abdul Jalil, Rahim Amin 2, Muhammad Razie, Hanafi, Aslan Misron 3, Faisal Saari 2, Tajuddin Ahmed) beat Oman 2 (Al Shatri Hashim, Hawait Murshid) HT 7-0.
South Korea 3 (Jang Jonghyun 2, You Hyosik) beat China 1 (Song Yi) HT 3-1.
Saturday’s matches:
Women: Japan v Thailand; India v Kazakhstan; China v Korea.
Men: Pool B: Japan v Hong Kong; India v Pakistan.