The Hindu : Sport / Hockey : India hopes to arrest poor form

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 24, 2006

Sport

Sport - Hockey

India hopes to arrest poor form

Faisalabad: India would be desperate to arrest its poor form and pull off a pride-restoring win when it meets Pakistan in the fifth Test of the bilateral hockey series here on Friday.

Having already conceded the six-match series by losing all the three matches at home and drawing the fourth in Lahore, the Indians would play for honour and ensure they end the contest on a positive note, ahead of the Commonwealth Games next month.

In the four matches so far, the forwards have let India down because of their failure to convert moves within the striking circle, evident from the fact that India has scored four goals in all while conceding eight.

And of these four, three have come from the strikers.

A more disturbing fact is that India has not been able to earn a single penalty corner in the last two matches despite having an effective drag-flicker in Sandeep Singh.

The Pakistanis, on the other hand, would like to make amends for its forward line's mistakes, which allowed India to hold the host to a 1-1 draw in Lahore. — PTI

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail