MADRID, 10 March 2004 — Pakistan and India made the cut for this summer’s Olympic Games in Athens by finishing first and second respectively in Pool B, but both had to survive some anxious moments yesterday before stamping their authority in the group. While Pakistan slowly got into their stride to offset an early New Zealand charge to win 4-1, India rode on a brilliant performance from Deepak Thakur to overcome Canada in a ten-goal thriller in the Olympic Hockey Qualifiers here at the Club de Campo yesterday. India won 6-4.
But two other Asian aspirants for Athens, Malaysia and Japan, were knocked out of contention. Malaysia were edged out 2-1 by Belgium while Japan were thrashed by favorites Holland 9-3 in the final league clash. The victory over Canada took India’s tally to ten points and helped them retain their second place in the group behind Pakistan, who take on Spain, the second-placed team in Pool A, in the semifinals.
Indian coach Rajinder Singh was satisfied with the result though he was not very happy with the qualifty of his side’s defense that let in four goals. “To have finally qualified for the Olympics gives us a good feeling,” he said. Deepak Thakur was India’s hero with a three-goal show in the match that saw Canada rally back from 0-5 to make it 4-5 just two minutes from time. The Canadians were trailing by the huge margin till the 36th minute, but Sean Campbell scored two goals to help Canada make a grand comeback from a seemingly impossible position but an Ignace Tirkey strike one minute from the hooter kept Canada away from producing what could have been a stunning draw.
Great Britain revived their Olympic dream by hammering South Africa 6-0 to finish third in Pool A and qualify for the 5-8 playoffs. Short corner striker Ben Hawes scored three goals and the forward-line also clicked at the right time to give Britain a life-saving victory. Danny Hall, Mark Pearn and Graham Moodie were the other goal scorers for Britain.
Britain coach Jason Lee was delighted with his team’s showing promising that it will now go on to qualify for Athens. “Our attack finally clicked today and that’s a great sign ahead of the playoffs,” he said.
The result helped Britain overtake Poland and South Africa and finish third behind Holland and Spain in the group. They will now meet Belgium, the fourth-placed team in Pool B, in the playoffs tomorrow.
South Africa finished fourth behind Britain and will face New Zealand the third-placed team in Pool B. Belgium knocked out Malaysia with a 2-1 win in a tense encounter to keep their Athens hope alive. The victory gave the previously winless Belgians a total of six points from their five games helping them to take fourth place in Pool B behind Pakistan, India and New Zealand.
“We are sad for not being in contention for a place in the Olympics because we don’t think that we deserved such a result,” said Malaysia’s German coach Paul Lissek.
Malaysia wasted their scoring chances against Belgium, who struck in each half through Mike Dewever and Jean-Phillippe Brule while Malaysia’s only came off a short corner strike from their skipper S. Kuhan four minutes from halftime.
Holland finished on top of Pool A with a huge 9-3 victory over last-placed Japan. Mercurial striker Ronald Brouwer scored three goals while short corner specialist Bram Lomans truck twice in the last two minutes to give Japan their worst defeat in the competition.
The win helped the Dutch to increase their tally to 13 points but it was their huge goal difference that gave them the top place in their group. They have already scored 23 goals, making them the most prolific team in the competition.
Spain blanked Poland 6-0 but could not match their Dutch rivals on goal difference. Skipper Juan Escarre struck twice for the hosts in the comfortable win that ended Poland’s hopes of playing in the Olympics.
Short corner specialist Sohail Abbas struck twice after Pakistan conceded a 0-1 lead to New Zealand.
“The pressure is off my team as we have achieved what we came here for,” said Pakistan’s coach Roelant Oltmans, who said Pakistan were a bit shaky in the beginning but recovered well in time to register what was quite a comfortable win in the end.
Playing without their playmaker Waseem Ahmed who fractured his hand in the match against Malaysia, Pakistan struggled to find their rhythm in the early stages.
New Zealand went a goal ahead when Hayden Shaw converted their first short corner in the 21st minute. Pakistan just took four minutes to level scores when Sohail finally found the target this time with a clever low push that completed beat the Kiwi defense.
Sohail struck again in the last minute of the first half to give Pakistan a 2-1 lead. Pakistan got their third goal through Mudassar Ali Khan in the 41st minute and Rehan’s solo move two minutes later helped Pakistan to go 4-1 ahead as the right winger set up Muhammad Shabbir to score from close.
Waseem Ahmed was ruled out of the rest of the tournament earlier in the day. X-rays confirmed that his hand was fractured. Waseem was advised complete rest for at least the next three weeks.
