India labour to down Belgium

Ace forward Dhanraj Pillay's 47th minute goal enabled India score a 1-0 victory over Belgium in their opening match in the Champions Challenge hockey tournament, at the National hockey stadium, in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur, on Friday.

In the inaugural match of the tournament, South Africa got the better of Argentina 3-2 while in the last match of the day's Malaysia beat Japan 1-0.

India meet South Africa on Saturday.

The Indians, who sprang a surprise by omitting Deepak Thakur from the 16, started slowly and found it difficult to penetrate the Belgium defence which had seven men playing withdrawn. But the Indians also had themselves to blame as they didn't work up moves and for almost 15 minutes in the first half shot aimlessly in the Belgian circle.

The midfield also didn't extert enough pressure create openings. Thirumalvalvan, Sukhbir Singh Gill and Bipin Fernandez were just off-colour and unable to strike up a rhythm with their forwards.

The Belgians came close twice but their wayward shooting let them down.

After the break, the Indians attacked with purpose and used the flanks for the first time in the match, thus opening up the Belgian defence. Pillay played a superb game and for almost 15 minutes in the second half, the Indians attacked with power and should have easily been three goals up but for Belgian goalkeeper Vincent, who made some smart saves.

The winning goal came in the 47th minute when Pillay found himself in the striking circle after a shot rebounded off a Belgian defender's stick. Taking his time, Pillay shot it high into the net, not giving the goalkeeper any chance.

A couple of minutes later, Pillay and Baljit Dhillon moved in but Vincent came out and stopped the shot, conceding a penalty-corner, India's only of the match.

Pillay, who looked in stunning form, made another move with Baljit with the third pass moving to Arjun Hallapa, whose fearsome shot was taken on the visor by the Belgian 'keeper.

The Belgians came close to equalising, when off a breakway move they earned a penalty-corner. The corner led to three more in succession with the second one hitting the post and going out of play.

In the end, India managed to hold onto their 1-0 lead.

Coach Cedric D'Souza said he was happy with the result as it was the first match. He, however, promised that the team would play better as the tournament progresses.

"They have assembled after a long time and with the juniors joining the team, it will take a couple of matches for them to come together," he said.

He justified the omission of junior World Cup hero Deepak Thakur from the 16, saying he would be playing him against South Africa and wanted to give other players a chance against Belgium.

Teams:
BELGIUM: Vincent Deneumostier, Maxime Luycx, Jean-Philippe Brule, Thierry Renaer, Xavier-Charles Letier, Joeri Beunen, Thomas Van Der Balck, Xavier Brooke, Marc Coudron, Xavier Reckinger, Phillippe Goldberg (Robin Geens, Fabian Berger, Gilles Petre, Charles Vandeweghe)

INDIA: Jude Menezes, Lazarus Barla, Jugraj Singh, Thirumal Valavan, Sukhbir Singh Gill, Baljit Singh Dhillon, Daljit Singh Dhillon, Dhanraj Pillay,Sabu Varkey, Kanwalpreet Singh, Bipin Fernandez (Prabhjot Singh, Arjun Halappa, Vikram Pillay, Gagan Ajit Singh).

Umpires: Steve Graham, Ravinderpal Singh

South Africa stun Argentina

South Africa scored two goals in the last two minutes to upset tournament favourites Argentina in the opening match.

The late flurry by the Africans, which included a field goal mere seconds before the final hooter, overturned what would have been a perfect and expected start to the tournament for the South Americans.

The Argentines were leading 2-1 with just two minutes to go when first captain Craig Jackson brought the scores level, and less than a minute later, Mike Cullen put in the dramatic winner to the collective joy of the South Africans.

Both teams shared the honours at the break, prolific marksman Jorge Lombi giving Argentina the lead in the 11th minute through their first penalty-corner before Justin King replied for the Africans five minutes later, also from a short corner.

Incidentally, Lombi made history by scoring the first-ever goal on the newly-laid pitch at the National hockey stadium, the venue for next year's 10th men's World Cup 2002 from February 24 to March 9.

After the break, the Argentines took the lead again in the 69th minute through a field goal by Mario Almada. By this time, however, they should have been leading by a comfortable margin but Lombi uncharacteristically failed to put away five penalty-corner attempts.

Both sides had a player sent off - German Orozco of Argentina in the first half and South African Darryn Gallagher in the second.

Malaysia beat Japan

Malaysia rose to the challenge of detractors with a slim win over a much-improved Japan. This win could chart the path to Malaysia's emergence in this tournament as a serious contender for the Champions Challenge title.

K. Keevan Raj scored the only goal in the match, capitalising on an opportunistic strike after the ball had careened across the goalmouth off a penalty-corner attempt by Maninderjit Singh.

The 40th-minute goal livened proceedings after the first half had ended in a stalemate.

Both sides had earlier been content to adopt a cautious approach to the match, the last for the opening day. An initially-nervous Malaysia had only three shots at goal while the Japanese failed to threaten on even one occasion. Both sides had three penalty-corner attempts a piece.

Malaysia fielded captain Mirnawan Nawawi, who is recovering from a first-degree tear on his left calf. He was not himself, but the boss was an inspirational presence on the field.

Malaysian coach Paul Lissek, at a post-match press conference said: "The team was very nervous and made too many mistakes. They tried to attack and I was a bit afraid that the Japanese would capitalise on our mistakes.

"But I'm happy with our three points. We're looking forward to more matches like this. After this opening day, it's clear that the tournament is wide open and any team can win it."

Champions Challenge - the complete coverage