Baljit, Dhanraj star in India’s big win

Baljit, Dhanraj star in India’s big win
Agence France Presse

Dhaka, March 11: India defeated Scotland 5-1 on the second day of the nine-nation Prime Minister’s Gold Cup Hockey Tournament here today. Indian captain Baljit Singh Dhillon and star striker Dhanraj Pillay scored a brace each while Deepak Thakur scored the fifth. For Scotland, Graham Joyce scored the lone goal.

Former world champions Pakistan beat upcoming China 3-1. China tried to fight back against the hockey giants but failed to convert any of the 10 penalties they earned from Pakistanis, who in turn succeeded pushing two of the 11 penalties into the net.

For Pakistan, penalty specialist Sohail Abbas, who was adjudged man of the match, opened the score at the eighth minute and then hit again with only two minutes left on the clock. In between, Muhammad Nadim found the back of the net at the 41st minute.

China’s lone face-saving goal was earned by Yang Wang at the 55th minute. The 11-day tournament which began yesterday is part of Bangladesh national team’s preparation for July’s World Cup qualifiers in Scotland.

Also competing in Dhaka are Japan, Egypt, Ireland and Malaysia. Singapore had been scheduled to play but pulled out at the last moment.

Egypt beat Malaysia 4-2 in another match. Belal Ibrahim, adjudged man of the match, led Egypt to a commanding position after opening the score in the 17th minute and then adding another two minutes later. Hossam Ibrahim added the third to end the first half with a convincing 3-0 lead.