India beat Malaysia to enter men’s semis

Second consecutive win puts them on top of pool table

India qualified for the semifinals of the men’s hockey tournament after defeating Malaysia 2-1 in a Pool B match at the Commonwealth Games yesterday.

Harmanpreet Singh converted a couple of penalty corners while the experienced Faizal Saari reduced the deficit for Malaysia immediately after the start of the second quarter.

This is India’s second consecutive win of their current campaign. They top the pool table with seven points from three matches.

They will play their last pool match against secondplaced England today. With the top two teams advancing to the last four stage, India are assured of a place in the semifinals. However, England face a must-win contest as a defeat will put their chances in jeopardy.

India had squandered a 2-0 lead to be held to a last gasp 2-2 draw by arch-rivals Pakistan in their opening match. The former Olympic champions

India’s mixed doubles pair of Dipika Pallikal and Saurav Ghosal defeated Pakistan’s Madina Zafar and Tayyab Aslam 2-0 in a Pool E encounter.

then defeated Wales 4-3 in a high scoring encounter.

There was more good news for India in squash.

India’s mixed doubles pair of Dipika Pallikal and Saurav Ghosal defeated Pakistan’s Madina Zafar and Tayyab Aslam 2-0 in a Pool E encounter yesterday.

The Indian pair hardly lost any sweat to outclass their arch-rivals 11-2, 11-3 at the Oxenford Studios here in merely 13 minutes.

Earlier in the day, the Indian duo comfortably whipped past Guyana’s Mary Fung-a-Fat and Jason-Ray Khalil 2-0 at the same venue. The Indians took a bare 13 minutes to breeze past the Guyana pair 11-3, 11-3.