India, New Zealand advance

Kuldeep Singh

India stayed on course for a berth in the men's hockey World Cup after beating Egypt 3-1 in their last Pool A match of the qualifiers at the Peffermil stadium, in Edinburgh, Scotland, on Saturday.

Desperately needing a victory from their concluding pool match, following their solitary goal defeat to New Zealand on Thursday, the Indians, who won the World Cup in 1975 at Kuala Lumpur, found the going tough in the first half but came into their own in the second session to snatch a well-deserved victory.

Also advancing to the second stage was New Zealand, who beat Wales 1-0 in the following match.

The match-winner came in the dying seconds, when New Zealand skipper Simon Towns broke away, entered the circle and despatched a stiff chot goalwards. David Kosoff darted in well to meet the ball and deflect to the top of the goal.

To advance, Wales had win by a two-goal margin, while New Zealand needed just a draw.

The Kiwis finished with a hundred per cent record, with nine points from three wins, while India placed second with six points, Wales third with three, and Egypt fourth in the pool.

Wales and Egypt, like the other teams which failed to place among the top two in the four pools, will be now battle it out for the 9th to 16th positions.

New Zealand and India will now play in Pool E and F respectively.

Pool E has New Zealand, winners of Pool A; Belgium, second from Pool B; Canada, second from Pool D; and the first team from Pool C, which is Spain, who beat Japan 5-2 in the last match of the day.

Pool F has Argentina, winners of Pool B; India, second from Pool A; Poland, winners of Pool D; and the second team from of Pool C, which is Japan.

In a match between cellar teams of Pool C, Scotland beat Chile 5-1, after leading 4-0 at half-time, to finish third in the pool with three points.

On Sunday, India meet Argentina while New Zealand play Belgium.

India, who beat Egypt 8-0 in the Prime Minister's Gold Cup in Dhaka and 2-1 in the final of the Akhbar El Yom international hockey tournament in Cairo in March, met with unexpected resistance in the first half. Like in their match against Wales, they found it difficult to splinter through the crowded Egypt defence.

After a goalless first session and some hard talk by a worried coach Cedric D'Souza, the Indians came alive in the second half and opened up the tight Egypt defence with some clever short passing. Daljit Singh Dhillon broke the ice in the 41st minute, scoring from superb field goal.

The goal saw the Indians in full cry and they were all over the Egypt half. The pressure helped them earn a penalty-stroke in the 46th minute, and skipper Baljit Singh Dhillon made no mistake from the 'spot'. Arjun Halappa made it 3-0 in the 53rd minute before Belal Ibrahim could pull one back for Egypt.

Friday's summary