India wary of desperate Pakistan in HWL playoff

LONDON: Did Roelant Oltmans put the cart before the horse? After Malaysia dented India’s plans to enter the last-four stage of the Hero Hockey World League (HWL) semi-final on Thursday, India run into an improving Pakistan for the second time in a week in London.

Dutchman Oltmans never envisaged that India would be playing Pakistan in a placing match at the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre here. His eyes were firmly on a semi-final clash against Argentina, but the tables were turned on India.

“We haven’t done enough here. I was not even thinking of playing Pakistan again,” a disappointed Oltmans said after the 3-2 Malaysian setback.

On Saturday, India clash with Pakistan and Canada play China as the teams contest for the fifth to eighth positions in the HWL semi-final’s London leg. Since India automatically qualify as the host nation for the 2018 Hockey World Cup in Bhubaneswar, Pakistan, Canada and China will be desperate to grab the fifth and sixth slots and remain in the hunt for the world championship.

Argentina, Malaysia, Netherlands and England have already qualified for the World Cup by virtue of entering the semifinals. On Saturday, Rio Olympics champions take on Malaysia while hosts England play a marauding Dutch team.

This has been a season of India versus Pakistan in the UK. The cricket teams battled twice in the ICC Champions Trophy and it will be a repeat on the hockey turf. Oltmans is only hoping that the Round 2 results in hockey will be different to cricket. “Certainly it won’t be 7-1.

They got their chances against us in the first match and they scored against Argentina. So we have to respect Pakistan for their abilities,” said Ramandeep Singh.