Hockey World League: Jasjit’s brace fires India to the semis
Jasjit Singh sent two rasping penalty corner drag flicks into the net as India edged past hosts Malaysia 3-2 to move to the semifinals of the Hockey World League Semifinals, at Antwerp, Belgium on Wednesday.India were lifted by the two successive penalty corner conversions from Jasjit in the 48th and 55th minutes to avenge their loss to the Malaysians by a similar margin in the Azlan Shah Cup two months ago.
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India came from behind scoring two goals in the final quarter after Malaysia had taken lead in the second quarter.
A win on Wednesday would have assured a place for Malaysia in the Rio Olympics and they played an attacking brand of hockey that had the Indian defence at sixes and sevens.After India took an early lead courtesy Satbir Singh’s strike in the 3rd minute of the game, Malaysia came back well converting their first penalty corner at the stroke of first quarter.Razie Rahim was the goal scorer and Malaysia took the lead with another penalty corner conversion, this time by Shahril Saabah.While Indian defence lacked discipline, the attackers did well to penetrate the Malaysian defence repeatedly but where denied again and again.Indian goalkeeper PR Sreejesh was in terrific form and denied Malaysian two certain goals.In the fourth quarter Indian up the ante and their persistent attacks led to silly mistakes from the Malaysian side.
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After missing their first two PCs, India converted via Jasjit Singh, drafted in to team for his drag flicking prowess.
A perfect injection from Sradar Singh gave Jasjit ample time to find an open space and he slotted the ball high past the Malaysian goal keeper Roslan Jamaluddin. Jasjit then fired the winning goal with four minutes remaining on the clock against to the top of the net to seal the game for India 3-2. The fast-paced encounter was played with the temperature on the pitch crossing 40 degrees Celsius. India now await the winner of the quarterfinal between hosts Belgium and France.Earlier, Great Britain defeated Pakistan 2-1 in the quarterfinals to set up a meeting with World champions Australia, who outplayed Ireland 4-1 to enter the semifinals.