AMSTERDAM, 30 June 2004 — Pakistan came close to achieving a new record against India when they crushed their Asian rivals 6-1 in the men’s 4-Nations field hockey tournament here yesterday.
“It was a fantastic game for us with no weaknesses in the team in any position,” coach Roelant Oltmans enthused after Pakistan came close to bettering their record 7-1 against India achieved at the 1982 Asian Games.
Despite his side not conceding a penalty corner scoring chance to India during the game, Oltmans put the win into perspective by stressing their need for consistency after their 6-0 loss to Germany on Sunday.
Shakeel Abbasi put Pakistan ahead after seven minutes hammering home a pass from Hussain Dilawar from the right, and Sohail Abbas gave them a 2-0 lead after 29 minutes when he converted the first of his three penalty corner chances flinging his drag-flick high to the right. Deepak Thakur Sonkhla replied with India’s only goal two minutes later, deflecting in a free hit by Dilip Tirkey from outside the circle over the head of Pakistan goalkeeper Ahmad Alam. Shabbir Hussain immediately latched on to a cross from the right by Mudassar Ali Khan to put Pakistan 3-1 up at the break.
Back on the pitch India brought in Adrian D’Souza in place of Devesh in goal and Inderjeet Singh came on as an attacking midfielder.
But the substitutions failed to stem the tide of Pakistani goals with Sohail converting his second penalty corner eight minutes into the second half.
Kanwalpreet Singh saved Sohail’s third and final penalty corner conversion seven minutes later, but as the Indian defenders were congratulating themselves on saving Sohail’s drag-flick Pakistan center forward Jawad Kashif scored his first goal on this tour in Europe.
India went all-out for another goal, throwing all their players forward with the unusual sight of 21 players inside Pakistan’s defensive zone only to be rebuffed by their rivals’ defense.
Meanwhile, Germany and the Netherlands play later with India meeting Germany tomorrow.
