Rupinder Pal hat-trick lifts India to 3-1 victory over Britain

Aryan Sandhu,Ipoh (Malaysia), May 6 (PTI) Rookie drag-flicker Rupinder
Pal Singh fired in a hat-trick as India made amends of their
first match loss with a convincing 3-1 victory over Britain in
the Azlan Shah hockey tournament here Friday.
Young Rupinder, who was included in the squad due to the
absence of penalty corner specialist Sandeep Singh, struck in
the 10th, 54th and 57th minutes to give depending champions
India the upper hand against a strong Britain who had come
here with a nearly full-strength side.
With the win Friday, India, who had come here without at
least half a dozen senior players, bounced back into the
tournament in style after going down to South Korea 2-3 in
their campaign opener.
India junior team regular member Rupinder, who had
featured in a few internationals with the senior side last
year, sent three low drag-flicks to sound the board of the
opposition goal.
India, who dominated the midfield, converted three of the
five penalty corners they earned in the match and led 3-0
before Britain pulled one goal back through James Tindall in
the 62nd minute.
Britain, who are fine-tuning their team for next year's
Olympic Games at home, had defeated Malaysia 3-1 Thursday.
After a couple of initial forays into rival territories
by both teams, Rupinder opened the scoring for India in the
10th minute with a grounder that surprised Britain goalkeeper
James Fair to sound the board.
At the other end, Indian goalkeeper Bharat Chhetri padded
away three penalty corner shots as the defenders rushed out to
narrow the angle for the British strikers.
Just before the breather, Indian striker Roshan Minz
broke into the rival circle from the left flank, but found no
support from other forwards.
India increased the lead midway through the second
session when Rupinder found the mark with a low push into the
goal past the outstretched pads of the custodian in the 55th
minute.
Two minutes later Rupinder completed his hat-trick, this
time directing the drag-flick into the right side of the board
as the goalkeeper moved to the other corner in anticipation of
the shot.
India then went into the defensive to hold the lead,
allowing Britain mid-field space. Britain had a couple of
cracks at the Indian citadel.
Tindall found the target in the 62nd minute off a cross
from the right. He also got another chance but shot wide past
the bewildered Indian goalkeeper.
In the earlier match of the day, Asian Games gold
medallists Pakistan asserted their strength by scoring thrice
in the final 10 minutes to edge past defending champions South
Korea 4-2.
Trailing 1-2 until the 60th minute, Pakistan went all out
into the attack to create several openings and succeeded in
breaching the Korean defence thrice for their second victory
in the tournament.
Pakistan had defeated New Zealand by a similar margin in
the tournament-opener Thursday.
Hyun Hye-Sung converted two penalty corners in the 13th
and 46th minutes for South Korea, while Rehan Butt scored an
opportunistic goal for Pakistan in the 21st minute.
Pakistan's rally began in the 61st minute when penalty
corner ace Sohail Abbas scored his first goal of the
tournament with a drag flick to restore 2-2 parity.
Abdul Haseem Khan capitalised on the confusion in the
Korean defence when he managed to take a second strike in open
play after picking up a long diagonal ball in the 63rd minute
to put Pakistan in the lead for the first time in the game.
Continuing to assert themselves, Pakistan's strikers
opened up a couple of more openings in the last two minutes
and Waqas Akbar picked up Muhammad Zubair's pass to sound the
boards with eight seconds to go for the hooter.