India on fire against ill-prepared Pakistan

PENALTY corner specialist Harmanpreet Singh and forwards Talwinder Singh and Akashdeep Singh netted a brace each as India thrashed Pakistan 7-1 in a Pool B match in the Hockey World League Semi-Finals in London on Sunday.

Pakistan, who hardly trained for the tournament, failed to put up a fight as Harmanpreet scored off penalty corners in the 13th and 33rd minutes followed by goals by Talwinder (21st and 24th) and Akashdeep Singh (47th and 58th).

Pardeep Mor scored the other goal in the 49th minute.

Umar Bhutta netted a consolation goal for Pakistan in the 34th minute.

“I thought Pakistan were the better team in the first quarter as they created more opportunities but after we scored the first goal we started to play according to our plan,” India coach Roelant Oltmans told www.fih.ch on Sunday.

“We scored some great goals today.

“I enjoyed the way we played, but as always I look for things to improve in our performances but scoring seven and conceding one is good.”

Pakistan are at the bottom of Pool B and in danger of not qualifying for the quarter-finals.

In Pool A, World No 1 Argentina were held 3-3 by hosts England.

England netted through Mark Gleghorne (sixth), Sam Ward (ninth) and Barry Middleton (34).

Argentina, however, fought back with Gonzalo Peillat’s brace in the 37th and 41st minutes while Matias Paredes netted from a field attempt in the 40th minute.

Malaysia took on South Korea in a late Pool A match yesterday.

RESULTS

Pool A: England 3 Argentina 3 Pool B: India 7 Pakistan 1, Scotland 1 Pakistan 3, Netherlands 3 Canada 1. FIXTURES TODAY

Pool A: China v Malaysia (1am), England v South Korea (3am)

Pool B: Scotland v Canada (7pm), India v Netherlands (9pm).