India in Sultan Azlan Shah Cup final following goal rush against Canada, title clash with Belgium
New Delhi, Nov. 30 -- In a high-scoring encounter, the Indian hockey team outclassed Canada 14-3 in their final league stage match to make the final of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Ipoh, Malaysia, on Saturday.
A second-string India will face table-toppers Belgium, who are unbeaten in the six-team tournament, in the final on Sunday. Apart from the win against Canada, the Sanjay-led side beat South Korea (1-0), hosts Malaysia (4-3) and New Zealand (3-2) but had lost to Belgium (2-3) in the round-robin phase.
Drag-flicker Jugraj Singh (12th, 26th, 39th, 50th) starred with four goals, forward Abhishek (57th, 59th), Amit Rohidas (15th, 46th) and Rajinder Singh (10th, 24th) scored a brace each. Dilpreet Singh (25th), Nilakanta Sharma (4th), Selvam Karthi (43rd) and Sanjay (56th) scored a goal each.
Brendan Guraliuk (11th), Matthew Sarmento (35th) and Jyothswaroop Sindhu (55th) sounded the board for Canada.
The win helped India build on their performance. With regulars rested for this tournament, this was an opportunity for young players to get noticed and they did well to hold off pressure from the Canadian defence.
The final quarter was a formality but this produced the maximum goals, six. It began with Rohidas's PC followed by Jugraj's stroke conversion. Both teams continued to trade PCs....
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