India out of semifinal race, lose to England 2-3
New Delhi, March 6: India’s marginal hopes of entering the semifinals of the hockey World Cup went up in smoke as England thrashed the home team 3-2 to secure their place in the last-four stage of the mega-event here today.
The defeat not only saw India go out of contention for the semifinal race but the hosts also registered their third straight loss in the tournament after having bruised an equally unimpressive Pakistan 4-1 in their tournament opener.
With four wins from as many matches, England are through to the last-four stage of the tournament and will take on Spain in their inconsequential last pool match on Monday, while India will play South Africa.
Ashley Jackson (42nd and 47th minutes) and James Tindall (16th) of England continued their good show in the tournament, while Gurvinder Singh Chandi (54th) and captain Rajpal Singh (58th) scored for India at the floodlit Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium.
India lacked the hunger for victory after their back-to-back defeats and looked like a club side in front of their home crowd, committing numerous errors in the all departments of the game. The Indians seemed to have not learnt from their mistakes in the last two matches as they kept on giving open spaces to their opponents inside their circle.
India’s ball-control and trapping was awful. To add to it, the defence, for the third consecutive day, faltered. (PTI)
