India rout Japan to keep hopes alive; Argentina snatch late win

India brushed aside Japan with a breathtaking display of attacking hockey to keep alive their hopes of reaching the final of the first men's Champions Challenge

After some indifferent performances earlier in the tournament, the Indians finally came good at the National hockey stadium, in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur, to punish the East Asians for their inexperience at international level and win 3-0.

In the other match of the day, Argentina scored in the dying minutes to beat Malaysia 2-1 and stay in contention for a final berth.

Jorge Lombi scored both the goals after K Logan Raj had put Malaysia ahead.

With this win, Argentina go top of the standings, ahead of Malaysia on the number of goals scored. Third are India, on seven points, following their 3-0 defeat of Japan earlier in the day. The Indians face Argentina on Wednesday while Malaysia take on the South Africans.

Both Argentina and Malaysia need only one point to meet each other again in the final.

India had to wait until the stroke of half-time before they could turn their territorial advantage onto the score sheet. Off their second penalty-corner, Deepak Thakur was on target to bring smiles to the faces of the Indians as they trudged off for the break.

In the second half, India went further ahead. First Prabhjot Singh scored his team's second goal in the 41st minute, then Deepak Thakur added to his first half strike in the 62nd minute with a field goal that deflected off Japanese Atsushi Takehara into the net. The third goal effectively put the match beyond the reach of the Japanese.

Indian coach Cedric D'Souza said he was happy with the win. He said: "Now I have to put on my thinking caps again for the next match against the Argentines."

India are now on seven points from two wins and a draw. Depending on the outcome of the other matches, the Indians stand a chance to finish among the top two if they beat Argentina in their final preliminary round match on Thursday.

Japan have only a single victory to show for in their four matches. Except for this last match, the Japanese have generally impressed by giving the other teams a good run for their money.

They play bottom-placed team Belgium in the first of Thursday's three matches.

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

JAPAN: Takahiko Yamabori, Naoya Iwadate, Akira Takahashi, Kenichi Katayama, Naohiko Tobita, Atsushi Takehara, Daisuke Hokaze, Akihiko Hirata, Mitsuru Ito, Jun Takahashi, Fumihiro Matsui (Kazuyuki Ozawa, Yasuhiro Kikkawa, Toshiaki Fukuda)

UMPIRES: Antonio Bustos (SPA), Paramjit Singh (MAS)

Lombi saves the day for Argentina

Jorge Lombi grabbed two goals including the winner in the last minute to earn Argentina a come-from-behind 2-1 win over Malaysia in a tighly-contested match that had the crowd on their feet for much of the time.

Lombi, who has been less than sharp with his penalty-corner flicks throughout the tournament, more than made amends on Wednesday. He first struck the equaliser in the 46th minute with a reverse stick hit and then scooped the ball beyond Malaysian goalkeeper Roslan Jamaluddin for the winning goal.

In a highly-entertaining match, Malaysia drew first blood in the 19th minute when K. Gobinathan sent a long ball into the Argentine D for K. Logan Raj to deflect past custodian Pablo Moreira.

Both sides played a controlled game in the first half. So much so that the game's first penalty-corner came only in the 32nd minute.

Off the home team's second short corner, Maninderjit Singh's direct hit was deemed by Canadian umpire Sumesh Putra to have hit an Argentine player on the ground. He awarded a penalty stroke, but Moreira guessed right and saved from S. Kuhan.

The action swung round to the other end and Argentina were then awarded back-to-back short corners on the stroke of half-time. As so often during the tournament, the South Americans failed to make it count.

It was worse for the Argentines in the second half. They earned four short corners but failed to make the home team pay for any of them.

Argentina coach Jorge Ruiz told the post-match press conference: "This was our best performance so far in the tournament. The turning point was when our goalkeeper saved the penalty stroke. After that, our spirits rose and we were able to play better. "

Malaysia's German coach Paul Lissek said: "The team had its ups and downs. We made too many silly mistakes and put ourselves under pressure.

MALAYSIA: Roslan Jamaluddin, Maninderjit Singh, Chua Boon Huat, S. Kuhan, Nor Azlan Bakar, Jiwa Mohan, Mohd Madzli Ikmar, Tajol Rosli Mohamed, Mohd Rodhanizam Radzi, K. Keevan Raj, Mirnawan Nawawi (K. Gobinathan, Chairil Anwar Aziz, K. Logan Raj, S. Shankar).

ARGENTINA: Pablo Moreira, Juan Pablo Hourquebie, Maximiliano Caldas, Ezequiel Paulon, Mario Almada, Tomas Mac Cormik, Santiago Capurro, Jorge Lombi, Fernando Zylberberg, German Orozco, Fernando Oscaris (Matias Paredes, Leonardo Deambrosi, Matias Vila)

UMPIRES: Steve Graham (WAL), Sumesh Putra (CAN)

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