BHUBANESWAR: The men’s Champions Trophy continued to elude India as the hosts squandered a 1-0 lead to go down 3-4 to Pakistan in the second semifinal at Kalinga Stadium Hockey Complex on Saturday.
This was the ninth final entry for three-time champions Pakistan and they will meet Germany on Sunday. In the first semifinal of the day, nine-time title winners Germany edged out defending champions Australia 3-2. India will now take on Australia for the bronze-medal match on Sunday.
Pakistan’s fighting win, however, lost much of its sheen as some of their players gestured indecently to the crowd, while celebrating their victory. Even the team’s head coach Shahnaz Sheikh had a heated exchange of words with reporters and stormed out of the post-match press conference. Surprisingly, the International Hockey Federation did not take action against the erring players and closed the chapter after Sheikh apologised to tournament director Wiert Doyer.
Pakistan’s Muhammad Arslan Qadir stole the show and his fine brace fetched him the Man of the Match prize. The other two goals for the winners were scored by Muhammad Waqas and Muhammad Irfan. Gurjinder Singh, Dharamvir Singh and Chandanda Thimmaiah sounded the board for India.
The hosts made a nervous start, while Pakistan went on attack from the word go. Goalkeeper P Sreejesh made a brilliant save in the sixth minute after Pakistan forward Muhammad Dilber came close to scoring, taking advantage of faulty clearance by Danish Mujtaba. Sreejesh made another save two minutes later.
India won their first penalty-corner against the run of play in the 12th minute and drag-flicker Gurjinder set the stadium on fire by converting it. Pakistan appealed but the video umpire rejected it.
Pakistan wasted their first penalty-corner in the 15th minute, while Sreejesh effected two more spectacular saves in the 16th. Pakistan equalised in the 17th minute with Qadir deflecting home a Muhammad Ali Shah hit from the right.
A charged-up Pakistan kept the Indian defence on tenterhooks more often than not, launching repeated attacks. India chose to play defensive and relied on counterattacks.
Waqas put Pakistan ahead, scoring a field goal in the 32nd minute. India restored parity when a reverse hit by Dharamvir rocketed past Butt on his left side in the 44th minute. The work was done by Akashdeep Singh.
Shah put Pak in the lead for the second time, converting a penalty-corner in the 44th minute. India immediately hit back, scoring a field goal through Thimmaiah. Ramandeep Singh had golden chance to give India the lead in the 53rd minute, but failed to beat the goalkeeper in a one-on-one situation. It was once again a last-minute defensive lapse by India that helped Qadir nail the match-winner.
Germany Win
Australia’s bid to win the Champions Trophy for the sixth time in a row failed as they lost 2-3 to nine-time champions Germany in the first semifinal. The win gave Germany their 17th entry to the final.