Raghunath out to haunt Malaysia again

IPOH: Penalty corner specialist V. R. Raghunath (pic) has a knack of scoring goals whenever India play Malaysia.

And he hopes to keep the streak going when the two teams clash in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament at the Azlan Stadium today.

“I have scored some important goals against Malaysia. So, I want to score tomorrow (today) as well.

“It is my job to get the goals since I am one of the penalty corner flickers in the team.

“But it is never easy playing Malaysia and I am sure they will be ready for us, too. I really do not worry who scores as long as we win the match,” said Raghunath.

The 26-year-old made his debut for India in the junior side in 2003.

Two years later, he made his senior debut during the bilateral series against Pakistan as a replacement for injured Sandeep Singh.

Raghunath was a member of the team who won the bronze medal in the 2007 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup and then a silver the following year.

With 182 caps, he is one of the more experienced players in the team.

For India’s newly-appointed Dutch coach Paul van Ass, he is expecting an intense match today.

“Malaysia have the edge as they have home support. And they have played some good hockey in the two matches.

“We expect a tough time. To win, we must not make too many mistakes in the game,” he said.

Van Ass took over as India coach just three weeks ago, and he has yet to secure a win.

Asian Games champions India drew 2-2 with South Korea in their opening match on Sunday, but lost 2-1 to New Zealand on Monday. But Van Ass is unfazed by the lack of results. “It is unfortunate (the results) but there is nothing wrong with the way we played. The level of play was very good, we just didn’t get the results. May be that will come with time,” he said.

“From the creative part, I think we were more fun to watch but that doesn’t count because in the end it is the result which matters.”