New Delhi: The Indian men’s hockey team continued its disappointing run in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup with another 2-3 loss to Ireland, even as the women humbled hosts South Korea 3-1 in their tour on Friday.
Confident after routing Malaysia 5-1 in their previous encounter, Indian men needed a another big victory to make it to the final but fumbled despite taking the lead twice in their last round-robin match against Ireland.
Ramandeep Singh (10’) and Amit Rohidas (26’) scored for India while Shane O’Donoghue (24’), Sean Murray (36’) and Lee Cole (42’) scored the winner for Ireland.
Playing with an attacking intent, India scored as early as the 10th minute when Ramandeep Singh directed his flick into the net with a tap after he had injected the ball perfectly for the dragflicker. Minutes later India won another Penalty Corner, but Varun Kumar’s flick was far wide.
Down by a goal, Ireland attacked hard making it tough for India to contain them. They were also denied a PC when a video referral was ruled in India’s favour. But soon scored through Shane O’Donoghue. It was a goal that came from good team work between Kirk Shimmins, Sean Murray and O’Donoghue, in the 24th minute.
Two minutes later Amit Rohidas gave India the lead again with a splendid PC. But Ireland strucked twice in the third quarter to snatch a win.
Contrastingly, the Indian women however continued their good run and now have take a 3-1 lead over South Korea, with a match in hand.
Two goals in the first quarter by Gurjit Kaur (2′) and Deepika (14′) put India in a commanding position while Poonam Rani’s field goal in the 47th minute secured the victory for the visitors as Mi Hyun Park (57′) scored a consolation goal for South Korea.
Beginning the match it took just two minutes for the 10th ranked nation to fire one past Heabin Jung from a PC. Gurjit Kaur scored that goal and 12 minutes later Deepika added cherry to butter with another goal from a second PC. In between South Korea won two Penalty Corners in the fourth and 10th minutes but squandered both. While the first was shot wide, the Second was well saved by Indian goalie Swati.
Korea never really looked like a team that could bounce back with two goals and although they managed one three minutes before the final hooter, India had already made it 3-0, in the 47th minute.
Following a good team move Vandana Katariya’s clever in-field pass was slotted into the back of the net by Poonam Rani which put India in the commanding position. 10 minutes later Mi Hyun Park scored South Korea’s only goal.