MADRID, 7 March 2004 — Penalty-corner specialist Sohail Abbas was on target, striking four of the best from the top of the D as Pakistan took assured steps toward Athens yesterday with a 5-3 defeat of India in an exhilarating Olympic Hockey Qualifiers encounter here at the Club de Campo.
India, with only four points from three matches, now need to take full points from Canada and New Zealand to gain direct qualification with a semifinal spot.
Sohail was four-on-four yesterday, converting all the four penalty corners that came Pakistan’s way. The exciting 5-3 triumph that followed the 4-2 and 2-0 wins over Canada and Belgium has put Pakistan in a position of strength atop Pool B. The four teams in the semifinals will qualify for the Athens Olympics while the number 3 and 4 teams from each group will battle it out for the remaining three places in the playoffs.
Pakistan are now the only team in the competition with a maximum of nine points from their three matches and will just need a draw in either of their next two matches against Malaysia and New Zealand to make certain they play in the last four.
Sohail, who was off-target against Belgium, scored his first in the very first minute and then went on to convert all the other three penalty corners that his team earned during the rest of the action-packed encounter. “It was just my day today. Sometimes things really work for you and that was what happened in this match,” said Sohail who scored four goals against India for the fist time in his illustrious career. The performance took him to the No. 1 spot on the leading goal scorers list in the competition so far.
“Sohail is a fantastic penalty-corner taker and today he proved that once again,” said Pakistan’s Dutch coach Roleant Oltmans. “He had a bad game against Belgium but such things happen sometimes.”
Sohail’s early goal fueled Pakistan as they kept pressing for more goals coming close on several occasions in the first quarter. India got their first scoring opportunity after the opening ten minutes that were completely dominated by Pakistan but a Deepak Thakur reverse shot was just too wayward.
Indian defender Kanwalpreet Singh was sent off in the 24th minute for a foul against Rehan Butt and Sohail made it 2-0 for Pakistan in the 28th minute with another lightning flick that went into the goal like a bullet. Thakur brought India back into the game with a clever goal two minutes from halftime. Right winger Rehamn Butt got Pakistan their third goal just one minute into the second session and soon Sohail was back into action converting his team´s third penalty corner to make it 4-1.
Then came the most exciting part of the game. India made a forceful recovery by scoring twice in two minutes through veteran Baljit Singh Dhillon and Gagan Ajit Singh to make it 3-4, bringing back memories of last year’s Amstelveen Champions Trophy when India rallied back to thrash Pakistan 7-4 in a league match. “It was crazy to see that happen,” said Oltmans. “Doing a very good job and going 4-1 up then in two minutes it was 4-3.”
But Oltmans gave credit to the Indian attack saying that it was too strong to be contained throughout the match. “We managed to control the game during some parts but then it became increasingly difficult for us to stop the Indian forwards.”
Indian coach said his forwards gave the team a chance but Sohail Abbas just took it away. “ We could not stop him (Sohail) and that was what decided the result,” he said.
Sohail ended all Indian hopes of an equalizer when he once again took Pakistan two goals ahead eight minutes before the final whistle with a low push that completely beat the Indian goalkeeper. Pakistan got three more chances of scoring goals in the last few minutes but their forwards failed to capitalize on them.
“India are a fantastic side and should be there in Athens,” Oltmans said after match while saying that he was extremely happy with his team’s performance.
His Indian counterpart said India may have lost two of their three games but they will certainly be in the Olympics. “We still have to play Canada and New Zealand which means we are in with a chance,” said Rajinder Singh.
Earlier, Malaysia bounced back after two straight losses with a thrilling 3-2 win over Canada to put Athens firmly back in their sights. But even beating Canada, the lowest-ranked team in Pool B was not easy for the inconsistent Malaysians, who survived a last minute penalty corner before scoring three vital points. With two more matches against Pakistan and Belgium still to go, the Malaysians have an outside chance of finishing among the top seven teams here and qualify for the Olympics.
It was defender Muhammad Rahim’s goal off a penalty stroke three minutes from time that kept Malaysia alive in the competition. Canada drew first blood in the match going ahead through a short corner strike from Wayne Fernandez in the 4th minute. Malaysia also struck back when M.I. Mohammad converted a short corner while Boon Chua scored a brilliant field to take a 2-1 lead at halftime.
Fernandez scored his second goal in the 55th minute to make it 2-2 for Canada but Rahim’s goal in the 67th minute swung the match in Malaysia’s favor.
In another Pool B encounter, Patrice Houssien struck just a minute before the final whistle to help Belgium record a useful 2-2 draw against New Zealand.
Houssien scored both the goals for the Belgians. Hayden Shaw gave New Zealand a 1-0 advantage in the 16th minute with a short corner strike but Houssien scored the equalizer just three minutes later. The Kiwis once again went up this time through Philip Burrows. The Kiwis led 1-0 at halftime.
Belgium kept pressing for their second goal but had to wait till the 69th minute when Houssien gave them a vital point with a superb strike.
