By S. Thyagarajan

EDINBURGH, JULY 26. India tumbled into the valley of despair unable to stand up to the pressure or get anything right out of the dozen penalty corners against Poland and went out of reckoning for a berth in the semifinals in the World Cup qualifier hockey championship here on Wednesday night.

Tentative and anything but tenacious, the defence was caught off guard even in the early minutes for a blemish which earned a penalty corner. And Zbignew Juszczak produced a feeble shot that was enough to beat goal-keeper Devesh Chauhan.

Shaken by the poor start, India pulled up a bit, still not showing enough vigour and power to unsettle the Polish defence. Tall and athletic, the Poles displayed assurance and skill in trapping, and covered the ground faster than the Indians.

A scrimmage for the ball ended in a penalty corner but it was not taken well. But not long after, India obtained the equaliser through a lovely shot by Bipin Fernandes, who eluded a couple of defenders to finish with a withering shot from the top of the cirle that gave goalkeeper Pobuta no chance.

Poland making good use of the aerial ball split open the defence. Pioter Mikula ran down the flank and sent a pass which Thomas Choczaj tapped in for the second goal. A hard tackle on Mikula brought Baljit Singh Saini a yellow card the team was reduced to 10 men for about 10 minutes. India earned the second penalty corner close on half-time. A powerful shot by Tirkey was stopped by Pobuta, but the second attempts by Baljit Dhillon and Daljit Dhillon went in vain.

Argentina tops Pool F

In a second-half blitz, Argentina struck five times before conceding two to Japan and take the top spot in Pool F with a tally of nine points.

After a barren first-half, Jorge Lombi led the Argentine assault with a goal in the early minutes followed by Maria Almada who struck twice. Lombi scored from a penalty corner to enhance his personal tally to 15 while Rodrgio Vila increased the lead to five.

Late in the match, Japan scored twice through Tobita, the second off a penalty.

In the last match in Pool F, Wales drew with Russia 2- 2 with Simon Organ and Jamie Westerman scoring for Wales and Evgeuni Nechaev and Uri Safonov for the Russians.